document_title: Nixon shock

question_text: when did the usd stop being backed by gold

text: Nixon shock

text: Background[edit]

text: In 1944 in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, representatives from 44 nations met to develop a new international monetary system that came to be known as the Bretton Woods system. Conference members had hoped that this new system would “ensure exchange rate stability, prevent competitive devaluations, and promote economic growth."[2] It was not until 1958 that the Bretton Woods system became fully operational. Countries now settled their international accounts in dollars that could be converted to gold at a fixed exchange rate of $35 per ounce, which was redeemable by the U.S. government. Thus, the United States was committed to backing every dollar overseas with gold, and other currencies were pegged to the dollar.

text: For the first years after World War II, the Bretton Woods system worked well. With the Marshall Plan, Japan and Europe were rebuilding from the war, and countries outside the US wanted dollars to spend on American goods—cars, steel, machinery, etc. Because the U.S. owned over half the world's official gold reserves—574 million ounces at the end of World War II—the system appeared secure.[3]

text: However, from 1950 to 1969, as Germany and Japan recovered, the US share of the world's economic output dropped significantly, from 35% to 27%. Furthermore, a negative balance of payments, growing public debt incurred by the Vietnam War, and monetary inflation by the Federal Reserve caused the dollar to become increasingly overvalued in the 1960s.[3]

text: In France, the Bretton Woods system was called "America's exorbitant privilege"[4] as it resulted in an "asymmetric financial system" where non-US citizens "see themselves supporting American living standards and subsidizing American multinationals." As American economist Barry Eichengreen summarized: "It costs only a few cents for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to produce a $100 bill, but other countries had to pony up $100 of actual goods in order to obtain one".[4] In February 1965 President Charles de Gaulle announced his intention to exchange its U.S. dollar reserves for gold at the official exchange rate.[5]

text: By 1966, non-US central banks held $14 billion, while the United States had only $13.2 billion in gold reserve. Of those reserves, only $3.2 billion was able to cover foreign holdings as the rest was covering domestic holdings.[6]

text: By 1971, the money supply had increased by 10%.[7] In May 1971, West Germany left the Bretton Woods system, unwilling to revalue the Deutsche Mark.[8] In the following three months, this move strengthened its economy. Simultaneously, the dollar dropped 7.5% against the Deutsche Mark.[8] Other nations began to demand redemption of their dollars for gold. Switzerland redeemed $50 million in July.[8] France acquired $191 million in gold.[8] On August 5, 1971, the United States Congress released a report recommending devaluation of the dollar, in an effort to protect the dollar against "foreign price-gougers".[8] On August 9, 1971, as the dollar dropped in value against European currencies, Switzerland left the Bretton Woods system.[8] The pressure began to intensify on the United States to leave Bretton Woods.

text: Event[edit]

text: At the time, the U.S. also had an unemployment rate of 6.1% (August 1971)[9] [notes 1] and an inflation rate of 5.84% (1971).[10]

text: To combat these problems, President Nixon consulted Federal Reserve chairman Arthur Burns, incoming Treasury Secretary John Connally, and then Undersecretary for International Monetary Affairs and future Fed Chairman Paul Volcker.

text: On the afternoon of Friday, August 13, 1971, these officials along with twelve other high-ranking White House and Treasury advisors met secretly with Nixon at Camp David. There was great debate about what Nixon should do, but ultimately Nixon, relying heavily on the advice of the self-confident Connally, decided to break up Bretton Woods by suspending the convertibility of the dollar into gold; freezing wages and prices for 90 days to combat potential inflationary effects; and impose an import surcharge of 10 percent,[11] to prevent a run on the dollar, stabilize the US economy, and decrease US unemployment and inflation rates, on August 15, 1971:[12][13]

text:
Nixon directed Treasury Secretary Connally to suspend, with certain exceptions, the convertibility of the dollar into gold or other reserve assets, ordering the gold window to be closed such that foreign governments could no longer exchange their dollars for gold.
Nixon issued Executive Order 11615 (pursuant to the Economic Stabilization Act of 1970), imposing a 90-day freeze on wages and prices in order to counter inflation. This was the first time the U.S. government had enacted wage and price controls since World War II.
An import surcharge of 10 percent was set to ensure that American products would not be at a disadvantage because of the expected fluctuation in exchange rates.

text: Speaking on television on August 15, the Sunday before the markets opened, Nixon said the following:

text: The third indispensable element in building the new prosperity is closely related to creating new jobs and halting inflation. We must protect the position of the American dollar as a pillar of monetary stability around the world.

text: In the past 7 years, there has been an average of one international monetary crisis every year...

text: I have directed Secretary Connally to suspend temporarily the convertibility of the dollar into gold or other reserve assets, except in amounts and conditions determined to be in the interest of monetary stability and in the best interests of the United States.

text: Now, what is this action—which is very technical—what does it mean for you?

text: Let me lay to rest the bugaboo of what is called devaluation.

text: If you want to buy a foreign car or take a trip abroad, market conditions may cause your dollar to buy slightly less. But if you are among the overwhelming majority of Americans who buy American-made products in America, your dollar will be worth just as much tomorrow as it is today.

text: The effect of this action, in other words, will be to stabilize the dollar.[14]

text: The American public felt the government was rescuing them from price gougers and from a foreign-caused exchange crisis.[15][16] Politically, Nixon's actions were a great success. The Dow rose 33 points the next day, its biggest daily gain ever at that point, and the New York Times editorial read, "We unhesitatingly applaud the boldness with which the President has moved."[3]

text: By December 1971, the import surcharge was dropped as part of a general revaluation of the Group of Ten (G-10) currencies, which under the Smithsonian Agreement were thereafter allowed 2.25% devaluations from the agreed exchange rate. In March 1973, the fixed exchange rate system became a floating exchange rate system.[17] The currency exchange rates no longer were governments' principal means of administering monetary policy.

text: Later ramifications[edit]

text: The Nixon Shock has been widely considered to be a political success,[citation needed] but an economic mixed bag in bringing on the stagflation of the 1970s and leading to the instability of floating currencies. The dollar plunged by a third during the '70s. According to the World Trade Review's report "The Nixon Shock After Forty Years: The Import Surcharge Revisited", Douglas Irwin reports that for several months, U.S officials could not get other countries to agree to a formal revaluation of their currencies. The German mark appreciated significantly after it was allowed to float in May 1971. Further, the Nixon Shock unleashed enormous speculation against the dollar. It forced Japan’s central bank to intervene significantly in the foreign exchange market to prevent the yen from increasing in value. Within two days August 16–17, 1971, Japan’s central bank had to buy $1.3 billion to support the dollar and keep the yen at the old rate of 360 Yen to the dollar. Japan’s foreign exchange reserves rapidly increased: $2.7 billion (30%) a week later and $4 billion the following week. Still, this large-scale intervention by Japan’s central bank could not prevent the depreciation of US dollar against the yen. France also was willing to allow the dollar to depreciate against the franc, but not allow the franc to appreciate against gold (Page 14 Douglas). Even much later, in 2011, Paul Volcker expressed regret over the abandonment of Bretton Woods: "Nobody's in charge," Volcker said. "The Europeans couldn't live with the uncertainty and made their own currency and now that's in trouble."[3]

text: In 1996, economist Paul Krugman (Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, 2008) summarized the post-Nixon Shock era as follows:

text: The current world monetary system assigns no special role to gold; indeed, the Federal Reserve is not obliged to tie the dollar to anything. It can print as much or as little money as it deems appropriate. There are powerful advantages to such an unconstrained system. Above all, the Fed is free to respond to actual or threatened recessions by pumping in money. To take only one example, that flexibility is the reason the stock market crash of 1987—which started out every bit as frightening as that of 1929—did not cause a slump in the real economy.

text: While a freely floating national money has advantages, however, it also has risks. For one thing, it can create uncertainties for international traders and investors. Over the past five years, the dollar has been worth as much as 120 yen and as little as 80. The costs of this volatility are hard to measure (partly because sophisticated financial markets allow businesses to hedge much of that risk), but they must be significant. Furthermore, a system that leaves monetary managers free to do good also leaves them free to be irresponsible—and, in some countries, they have been quick to take the opportunity.[18]

text: Debates over the Nixon Shock has persisted to the present day, with economists and politicians across the political spectrum trying to make sense of the Nixon Shock and its impact on monetary policy in the light of the financial crisis of 2007–2008.


document_title: Happy Valley (TV series)

question_text: where is the bbc show happy valley filmed

root

text: Happy Valley (TV series)

text: Episodes[edit]

text:
Series
Episodes
Originally aired
Ave. UK viewers
(in millions)[4]

First aired
Last aired

1
6
29 April 2014
3 June 2014
8.21

2
6
9 February 2016
15 March 2016
9.37

tag: table

text: Series 1[edit]

text: Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) is a strong-willed police sergeant in West Yorkshire, still coming to terms with the suicide of her teenage daughter, Becky, eight years earlier. Cawood is now divorced from her husband and living with her sister, Clare (Siobhan Finneran), a recovering alcoholic and heroin addict, who is helping her bring up Becky's young son, Ryan (Rhys Connah), the product of rape. Neither Catherine's ex-husband nor their adult son, Daniel, wants anything to do with Ryan. Catherine hears that Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton), the man responsible for the brutal rape that impregnated Becky and drove her to suicide shortly after Ryan was born, is out of prison after serving eight years for drug charges. Catherine soon becomes obsessed with finding Royce, unaware that he is involved in the kidnapping of Ann Gallagher (Charlie Murphy), a plot instigated by Kevin Weatherill (Steve Pemberton) and orchestrated by Ashley Cowgill (Joe Armstrong). Things quickly take a dark turn as the abductors scramble to keep the kidnapping secret, although Catherine is onto them.

tag: p

text: Series 2[edit]

text: Eighteen months after the events of the first series, Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) is back at work and has won the Queen's Police Medal (QPM) for gallantry, for rescuing Ann Gallagher (Charlie Murphy) from Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton), who is serving a life sentence in prison. But when Royce's mother is killed, Catherine finds herself implicated in a string of murders. While trying to prove her innocence, Catherine is tasked with investigating a human trafficking operation linked to the serial killings. Meanwhile, senior HMET officers Detective Superintendent Andy Shepard (Vincent Franklin) and Detective Inspector Jodie Shackleton (Katherine Kelly) begin to suspect that the supposed fourth victim of the serial killer, Victoria Fleming (Amelia Bullmore), was in fact murdered by someone else. Gradually their investigation starts to lead them towards Victoria's actual killer – police detective, John Wadsworth (Kevin Doyle), whom Fleming had been blackmailing. Catherine's grandson, Ryan, develops a friendship with a new teaching assistant, Miss Wealand (Shirley Henderson), who is secretly a prison groupie infatuated with Royce. Royce, whom the court has forbidden having any contact with Ryan, is using Wealand to try to build a relationship with Ryan and get revenge on Catherine. Ryan increasingly concerns his family by asking questions about his father and even suggests Royce should be forgiven.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Sarah Lancashire as Sgt. Catherine Cawood
Siobhan Finneran as Clare Cartwright
Charlie Murphy as Ann Gallagher
James Norton as Tommy Lee Royce
George Costigan as Nevison Gallagher

tag: ul

text: Production[edit]

text: On 22 November 2012, Ben Stephenson announced the commissioning of Happy Valley for BBC One. The programme was written by Sally Wainwright, produced by Karen Lewis, and directed by Euros Lyn, Sally Wainwright, and Tim Fywell.[5][6]

text: Filming began in the Calder Valley in November 2013.[7][8] Locations in the area included Todmorden, Luddenden, Mytholmroyd, Bradford, Keighley, Sowerby Bridge, Hebden Bridge, and Heptonstall. Huddersfield, Halifax, Bradford, Leeds, and other West Yorkshire cities are mentioned, though not main filming locations. A former West Yorkshire police station was used for some scenes, and additional filming took place at North Light Film Studios at Brookes Mill, Huddersfield.[9]

text: The name "Happy Valley" is what local police in the Calder Valley call the area because of its drug problem.[10]

text: In the series one premiere episode, Ryan points out to Catherine, who is visiting her daughter Becky's grave in the next row, that visitors have left pens at Sylvia Plath Hughes' grave.

text: A second series was commissioned on 18 August 2014. Filming began in August 2015, and the first episode was broadcast on 9 February 2016.[11] The second series was written by Wainwright, produced by Lewis, and directed by Lyn and Wainwright.[12] Catherine's workplace is a former police station in Sowerby Bridge, and her home and local pub (two other main filming locations) are based in Hebden Bridge. The prison scenes were filmed at Oakham Enterprise Park in Rutland, which was Ashwell Prison until its closure.

text: Reception[edit]

text: The first episode aired on 29 April 2014 at 21:00. It garnered 8.64 million viewers, and it was the second most watched show of the week (commencing 28 April 2014) for BBC One.[13] The BBC reported that the show received an average consolidated audience of 8.21 million viewers, over six episodes, and an additional 8.1 million requests for the show on BBC iPlayer.[14] Radio Times called Happy Valley a "word-of-mouth hit" which "steadily became a success outside the normal audience for the slot and channel."[15]

text: After "Episode 1" aired, Ofcom received four complaints under the category "violence and dangerous behaviour", but they did not pursue the matter.[16]

text: Reviews from the media have been overwhelmingly positive, and the show has received 100% rating critic review on Rotten Tomatoes.[17] However, some reviewers have criticised the show for its graphic content, especially in "Episode 3" and "Episode 4". The Daily Mail's TV correspondent Alasdair Glennie questioned whether or not the BBC went "too far" in "Episode 4" with the brutal attack on police sergeant Cawood and the murder of one of her officers. The Daily Mail claimed that the BBC had received "15 complaints about ["Episode 4"], which aired between 9pm and 10pm after the watershed, while 45 viewers contacted the [BBC] corporation to say how much they enjoyed the show." Vivienne Pattison, a campaigner for stronger television regulations and a part of Mediawatch-uk, declared that the violence "is part of a worrying trend in TV drama."[18]

text: In response to the criticism, Happy Valley's creator-writer, Wainwright, defended the show as "a quality, well-written drama" and stated, "Judging by the amount of email, texts, tweets I've had, I don't think anyone is asking me to apologise."[19] In an interview with Radio Times, Wainwright said the level of violence had been carefully considered and it was done responsibly, by showing the psychological and physical damage suffered by Catherine.[20]

text: Other critics have praised the show. Vicky Frost of The Guardian wrote: "To get hung up on the violence of this BBC1 kidnap drama misses the point. It is beautifully written by Sally Wainwright, draws an astonishing performance from Sarah Lancashire—and between them, they have created something truly unmissable."[21] Another Daily Mail TV correspondent, Christopher Stevens, rated "Episode 4" with 5/5 stars, saying that "every instalment has been unmissable" and "BAFTA bosses might as well get next year's trophy inscribed now" for star Sarah Lancashire.[22] Gerard O'Donovan of The Telegraph called Happy Valley "complex, thrilling and brilliantly written and acted", and "one of the best watches of 2014."[23]

text: Awards[edit]

text: In May 2015, Happy Valley won the BAFTA Award for Best Drama Series.[24] In 2014, it had won a TV Choice Award for Best New Drama; Sarah Lancashire was named Best Actress at the same time. The series was also voted the best TV programme of 2014 by readers of Radio Times.[25]

text: International[edit]

text:
Country
Channel

Finland
Yle TV1

Norway
NRK

Sweden
SVT1

Netherlands
Netflix, BBC First

France
Canal+

Italy
Netflix

Poland
Ale Kino+

United States
Netflix

Canada
Netflix

Australia
ABC TV

New Zealand
TVNZ

Germany
WDR

Republic of Ireland
RTÉ

Portugal
RTP1

Czech Republic
ČT1

Spain
Netflix

text: Awards and nominations[edit]

text: Series One

text:
Association
Category
Nominee(s)
Result

BAFTA Television Awards
Best Leading Actress
Sarah Lancashire
Nominated

Best Supporting Actor
James Norton
Nominated

Best Drama Series
Happy Valley
Won

BAFTA Television Craft Awards
Best Director: Fiction
Euros Lyn
Nominated

Best Writer: Drama
Sally Wainwright
Won

Banff Rockie Awards
Best Procedural Drama
Happy Valley
Pending

Broadcast Awards
Best Drama Series or Serial
Happy Valley
Won

Broadcasting Press Guild Awards
Best Actress
Sarah Lancashire
Nominated

Best Drama Series
Happy Valley
Nominated

Breakthrough Award
James Norton
Nominated

Writer's Award
Sally Wainwright
Won

Crime Thriller Awards
Best TV Drama
Happy Valley
Won

Best Leading Actor
Steve Pemberton
Nominated

Best Leading Actress
Sarah Lancashire
Nominated

Best Supporting Actor
James Norton
Won

Edgar Awards
Best Television Episode Teleplay
Sally Wainwright ("Episode 1")
Won

Monte-Carlo Television Festival
Best Drama Series
Happy Valley
Won[26]

Best Actress in a Drama Series
Sarah Lancashire
Won[26]

National Television Awards
Best Drama Performance
Sarah Lancashire
Won[27]

RTS Programme Awards
Best Actor (Female)
Sarah Lancashire
Won[28]

Best Drama Series
Happy Valley
Nominated[29]

Best Writer: Drama
Sally Wainwright
Nominated[29]

Best Editing: Drama
Jamie Pearson
Nominated[29]

RTS North-West Awards
Best Single Drama or Drama Series
Happy Valley
Nominated

Best Performance in a Single Drama or Drama Series (Male)
Steve Pemberton
Nominated

Best Performance in a Single Drama or Drama Series (Female)
Sarah Lancashire
Won

Best Script Writer
Sally Wainwright
Nominated

Best Production (Craft)
Red Production Company
Nominated

Best Post-Production (Craft)
'production team' ("Episode 4")
Nominated

Satellite Awards
Best Mini-Series Made for Television
Happy Valley
Nominated[30]

Best Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Sarah Lancashire
Nominated[30]

South Bank Sky Arts Awards
Best TV Drama
Happy Valley
Pending

TV Choice Awards
Best New Drama
Happy Valley
Won[31]

Best Actress
Sarah Lancashire
Won[31]

Writer's Guild of Great Britain Awards
Best TV Drama - Long Form
Sally Wainwright
Won

text: Series Two

text:
Association
Category
Nominee(s)
Result

BAFTA Television Awards
Best Leading Actress
Sarah Lancashire
Won

Best Supporting Actress
Siobhan Finneran
Nominated

Best Drama Series
Happy Valley
Won

BAFTA Television Craft Awards
Best Writer: Drama
Sally Wainwright
Won

Broadcast Awards
Best Drama Series or Serial
Happy Valley
Nominated

Broadcasting Press Guild Awards
Best Actress
Sarah Lancashire
Nominated

Best Actor
James Norton
Nominated

Writer's Award
Sally Wainwright
Nominated

Irish Film & Television Academy Awards
Best Supporting Actress in a Television Drama
Charlie Murphy
Nominated

National Television Awards
Best Drama
Happy Valley
Nominated

Best Drama Performance
Sarah Lancashire
Won

Peabody Awards
Excellence in Entertainment Television
Happy Valley
Won

RTS Programme Awards
Best Drama Series
Happy Valley
Won

Best Writer: Drama
Sally Wainwright
Won

RTS North-West Awards
Best Single Drama or Drama Series
Happy Valley
Nominated

Best Performance in a Single Drama or Drama Series (Male)
Kevin Doyle
Won

Best Performance in a Single Drama or Drama Series (Female)
Sarah Lancashire
Won

Best Script Writer
Sally Wainwright
Nominated

Best Production (Craft)
Red Production Company
Won

Best Post-Production (Craft)
'production team' ("Episode 4")
Nominated

Satellite Awards
Best Actress in a Series, Drama/Genre
Sarah Lancashire
Nominated

TV Choice Awards
Best Drama Series
Happy Valley
Nominated

Best Actress
Sarah Lancashire
Won

text: Home media[edit]

text: BBC Shop released Happy Valley series one on DVD, in regions two and four, on 16 June 2014. The DVD includes two discs, featuring 351 minutes worth of footage, and has an age certificate of 15.[32] All six episodes of the series were released on iTunes, both in standard and high definition.[33]

text: On 20 August 2014, the series was further released on Netflix in Canada and the USA, marketed as a "Netflix Original".[34]

text: In the summer of 2016 Series 1 of Happy Valley was released on Netflix in the UK and is currently repeated on the channel 'W'.


document_title: Soil erosion

question_text: what are the four types of soil erosion

question_tokens: what are the four types of soil erosion

text: Soil erosion

text: Physical processes[edit]

text: Rainfall and surface runoff[edit]

text: Rainfall, and the surface runoff which may result from rainfall, produces four main types of soil erosion: splash erosion, sheet erosion, rill erosion, and gully erosion. Splash erosion is generally seen as the first and least severe stage in the soil erosion process, which is followed by sheet erosion, then rill erosion and finally gully erosion (the most severe of the four).[5][6]

text: In splash erosion, the impact of a falling raindrop creates a small crater in the soil,[7] ejecting soil particles.[8] The distance these soil particles travel can be as much as 0.6 m (two feet) vertically and 1.5 m (five feet) horizontally on level ground.

text: If the soil is saturated, or if the rainfall rate is greater than the rate at which water can infiltrate into the soil, surface runoff occurs. If the runoff has sufficient flow energy, it will transport loosened soil particles (sediment) down the slope.[9] Sheet erosion is the transport of loosened soil particles by overland flow.[9]

text: Rill erosion refers to the development of small, ephemeral concentrated flow paths which function as both sediment source and sediment delivery systems for erosion on hillslopes. Generally, where water erosion rates on disturbed upland areas are greatest, rills are active. Flow depths in rills are typically of the order of a few centimeters (about an inch) or less and along-channel slopes may be quite steep. This means that rills exhibit hydraulic physics very different from water flowing through the deeper, wider channels of streams and rivers.[10]

text: Gully erosion occurs when runoff water accumulates and rapidly flows in narrow channels during or immediately after heavy rains or melting snow, removing soil to a considerable depth.[11][12][13]

text: Rivers and streams[edit]

text: Valley or stream erosion occurs with continued water flow along a linear feature. The erosion is both downward, deepening the valley, and headward, extending the valley into the hillside, creating head cuts and steep banks. In the earliest stage of stream erosion, the erosive activity is dominantly vertical, the valleys have a typical V cross-section and the stream gradient is relatively steep. When some base level is reached, the erosive activity switches to lateral erosion, which widens the valley floor and creates a narrow floodplain. The stream gradient becomes nearly flat, and lateral deposition of sediments becomes important as the stream meanders across the valley floor. In all stages of stream erosion, by far the most erosion occurs during times of flood, when more and faster-moving water is available to carry a larger sediment load. In such processes, it is not the water alone that erodes: suspended abrasive particles, pebbles and boulders can also act erosively as they traverse a surface, in a process known as traction.[14]

text: Bank erosion is the wearing away of the banks of a stream or river. This is distinguished from changes on the bed of the watercourse, which is referred to as scour. Erosion and changes in the form of river banks may be measured by inserting metal rods into the bank and marking the position of the bank surface along the rods at different times.[15]

text: Thermal erosion is the result of melting and weakening permafrost due to moving water.[16] It can occur both along rivers and at the coast. Rapid river channel migration observed in the Lena River of Siberia is due to thermal erosion, as these portions of the banks are composed of permafrost-cemented non-cohesive materials.[17] Much of this erosion occurs as the weakened banks fail in large slumps. Thermal erosion also affects the Arctic coast, where wave action and near-shore temperatures combine to undercut permafrost bluffs along the shoreline and cause them to fail. Annual erosion rates along a 100-kilometre (62-mile) segment of the Beaufort Sea shoreline averaged 5.6 metres (18 feet) per year from 1955 to 2002.[18]

text: Floods[edit]

text: At extremely high flows, kolks, or vortices are formed by large volumes of rapidly rushing water. Kolks cause extreme local erosion, plucking bedrock and creating pothole-type geographical features called Rock-cut basins. Examples can be seen in the flood regions result from glacial Lake Missoula, which created the channeled scablands in the Columbia Basin region of eastern Washington.[19]

text: Wind erosion[edit]

text: Wind erosion is a major geomorphological force, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. It is also a major source of land degradation, evaporation, desertification, harmful airborne dust, and crop damage—especially after being increased far above natural rates by human activities such as deforestation, urbanization, and agriculture.[20][21]

text: Wind erosion is of two primary varieties: deflation, where the wind picks up and carries away loose particles; and abrasion, where surfaces are worn down as they are struck by airborne particles carried by wind. Deflation is divided into three categories: (1) surface creep, where larger, heavier particles slide or roll along the ground; (2) saltation, where particles are lifted a short height into the air, and bounce and saltate across the surface of the soil; and (3) suspension, where very small and light particles are lifted into the air by the wind, and are often carried for long distances. Saltation is responsible for the majority (50–70%) of wind erosion, followed by suspension (30–40%), and then surface creep (5–25%).[22][23] Silty soils tend to be the most affected by wind erosion; silt particles are relatively easily detached and carried away.[24]

text: Wind erosion is much more severe in arid areas and during times of drought. For example, in the Great Plains, it is estimated that soil loss due to wind erosion can be as much as 6100 times greater in drought years than in wet years.[25]

text: Mass movement[edit]

text: Mass movement is the downward and outward movement of rock and sediments on a sloped surface, mainly due to the force of gravity.[26][27]

text: Mass movement is an important part of the erosional process, and is often the first stage in the breakdown and transport of weathered materials in mountainous areas.[28] It moves material from higher elevations to lower elevations where other eroding agents such as streams and glaciers can then pick up the material and move it to even lower elevations. Mass-movement processes are always occurring continuously on all slopes; some mass-movement processes act very slowly; others occur very suddenly, often with disastrous results. Any perceptible down-slope movement of rock or sediment is often referred to in general terms as a landslide. However, landslides can be classified in a much more detailed way that reflects the mechanisms responsible for the movement and the velocity at which the movement occurs. One of the visible topographical manifestations of a very slow form of such activity is a scree slope.[citation needed]

text: Slumping happens on steep hillsides, occurring along distinct fracture zones, often within materials like clay that, once released, may move quite rapidly downhill. They will often show a spoon-shaped isostatic depression, in which the material has begun to slide downhill. In some cases, the slump is caused by water beneath the slope weakening it. In many cases it is simply the result of poor engineering along highways where it is a regular occurrence.[citation needed]

text: Surface creep is the slow movement of soil and rock debris by gravity which is usually not perceptible except through extended observation. However, the term can also describe the rolling of dislodged soil particles 0.5 to 1.0 mm (0.02 to 0.04 in) in diameter by wind along the soil surface.[citation needed]

text: Factors affecting soil erosion[edit]

text: Climate[edit]

text: The amount and intensity of precipitation is the main climatic factor governing soil erosion by water. The relationship is particularly strong if heavy rainfall occurs at times when, or in locations where, the soil's surface is not well protected by vegetation. This might be during periods when agricultural activities leave the soil bare, or in semi-arid regions where vegetation is naturally sparse. Wind erosion requires strong winds, particularly during times of drought when vegetation is sparse and soil is dry (and so is more erodible). Other climatic factors such as average temperature and temperature range may also affect erosion, via their effects on vegetation and soil properties. In general, given similar vegetation and ecosystems, areas with more precipitation (especially high-intensity rainfall), more wind, or more storms are expected to have more erosion.

text: In some areas of the world (e.g. the mid-western USA), rainfall intensity is the primary determinant of erosivity, with higher intensity rainfall generally resulting in more soil erosion by water. The size and velocity of rain drops is also an important factor. Larger and higher-velocity rain drops have greater kinetic energy, and thus their impact will displace soil particles by larger distances than smaller, slower-moving rain drops.[29]

text: In other regions of the world (e.g. western Europe), runoff and erosion result from relatively low intensities of stratiform rainfall falling onto previously saturated soil. In such situations, rainfall amount rather than intensity is the main factor determining the severity of soil erosion by water.[30]

text: Soil structure and composition[edit]

text: The composition, moisture, and compaction of soil are all major factors in determining the erosivity of rainfall. Sediments containing more clay tend to be more resistant to erosion than those with sand or silt, because the clay helps bind soil particles together.[31] Soil containing high levels of organic materials are often more resistant to erosion, because the organic materials coagulate soil colloids and create a stronger, more stable soil structure.[32] The amount of water present in the soil before the precipitation also plays an important role, because it sets limits on the amount of water that can be absorbed by the soil (and hence prevented from flowing on the surface as erosive runoff). Wet, saturated soils will not be able to absorb as much rain water, leading to higher levels of surface runoff and thus higher erosivity for a given volume of rainfall.[32][33] Soil compaction also affects the permeability of the soil to water, and hence the amount of water that flows away as runoff. More compacted soils will have a larger amount of surface runoff than less compacted soils.[32]

text: Vegetative cover[edit]

text: Vegetation acts as an interface between the atmosphere and the soil. It increases the permeability of the soil to rainwater, thus decreasing runoff. It shelters the soil from winds, which results in decreased wind erosion, as well as advantageous changes in microclimate. The roots of the plants bind the soil together, and interweave with other roots, forming a more solid mass that is less susceptible to both water and wind erosion. The removal of vegetation increases the rate of surface erosion.[34]

text: Topography[edit]

text: The topography of the land determines the velocity at which surface runoff will flow, which in turn determines the erosivity of the runoff. Longer, steeper slopes (especially those without adequate vegetative cover) are more susceptible to very high rates of erosion during heavy rains than shorter, less steep slopes. Steeper terrain is also more prone to mudslides, landslides, and other forms of gravitational erosion processes.[35][36][37]

text: Human activities that increase soil erosion[edit]

text: Agricultural practices[edit]

text: Unsustainable agricultural practices are the single greatest contributor to the global increase in erosion rates.[38] The tillage of agricultural lands, which breaks up soil into finer particles, is one of the primary factors. The problem has been exacerbated in modern times, due to mechanized agricultural equipment that allows for deep plowing, which severely increases the amount of soil that is available for transport by water erosion. Others include mono-cropping, farming on steep slopes, pesticide and chemical fertilizer usage (which kill organisms that bind soil together), row-cropping, and the use of surface irrigation.[39][40] A complex overall situation with respect to defining nutrient losses from soils, could arise as a result of the size selective nature of soil erosion events. Loss of total phosphorus, for instance, in the finer eroded fraction is greater relative to the whole soil.[41] Extrapolating this evidence to predict subsequent behaviour within receiving aquatic systems, the reason is that this more easily transported material may support a lower solution P concentration compared to coarser sized fractions.[42] Tillage also increases wind erosion rates, by dehydrating the soil and breaking it up into smaller particles that can be picked up by the wind. Exacerbating this is the fact that most of the trees are generally removed from agricultural fields, allowing winds to have long, open runs to travel over at higher speeds.[43] Heavy grazing reduces vegetative cover and causes severe soil compaction, both of which increase erosion rates.[44]

text: Deforestation[edit]

text: In an undisturbed forest, the mineral soil is protected by a layer of leaf litter and an humus that cover the forest floor. These two layers form a protective mat over the soil that absorbs the impact of rain drops. They are porous and highly permeable to rainfall, and allow rainwater to slow percolate into the soil below, instead of flowing over the surface as runoff.[45] The roots of the trees and plants[46] hold together soil particles, preventing them from being washed away.[45] The vegetative cover acts to reduce the velocity of the raindrops that strike the foliage and stems before hitting the ground, reducing their kinetic energy.[47] However it is the forest floor, more than the canopy, that prevents surface erosion. The terminal velocity of rain drops is reached in about 8 metres (26 feet). Because forest canopies are usually higher than this, rain drops can often regain terminal velocity even after striking the canopy. However, the intact forest floor, with its layers of leaf litter and organic matter, is still able to absorb the impact of the rainfall.[47][48]

text: Deforestation causes increased erosion rates due to exposure of mineral soil by removing the humus and litter layers from the soil surface, removing the vegetative cover that binds soil together, and causing heavy soil compaction from logging equipment. Once trees have been removed by fire or logging, infiltration rates become high and erosion low to the degree the forest floor remains intact. Severe fires can lead to significant further erosion if followed by heavy rainfall.[49]

text: Globally one of the largest contributors to erosive soil loss in the year 2006 is the slash and burn treatment of tropical forests. In a number of regions of the earth, entire sectors of a country have been rendered unproductive. For example, on the Madagascar high central plateau, comprising approximately ten percent of that country's land area, virtually the entire landscape is sterile of vegetation, with gully erosive furrows typically in excess of 50 metres (160 ft) deep and 1 kilometre (0.6 miles) wide. Shifting cultivation is a farming system which sometimes incorporates the slash and burn method in some regions of the world. This degrades the soil and causes the soil to become less and less fertile.[citation needed]

text: Roads and urbanization[edit]

text: Urbanization has major effects on erosion processes—first by denuding the land of vegetative cover, altering drainage patterns, and compacting the soil during construction; and next by covering the land in an impermeable layer of asphalt or concrete that increases the amount of surface runoff and increases surface wind speeds.[50] Much of the sediment carried in runoff from urban areas (especially roads) is highly contaminated with fuel, oil, and other chemicals.[51] This increased runoff, in addition to eroding and degrading the land that it flows over, also causes major disruption to surrounding watersheds by altering the volume and rate of water that flows through them, and filling them with chemically polluted sedimentation. The increased flow of water through local waterways also causes a large increase in the rate of bank erosion.[52]

text: Climate change[edit]

text: The warmer atmospheric temperatures observed over the past decades are expected to lead to a more vigorous hydrological cycle, including more extreme rainfall events.[53] The rise in sea levels that has occurred as a result of climate change has also greatly increased coastal erosion rates.[54][55]

text: Studies on soil erosion suggest that increased rainfall amounts and intensities will lead to greater rates of soil erosion. Thus, if rainfall amounts and intensities increase in many parts of the world as expected, erosion will also increase, unless amelioration measures are taken. Soil erosion rates are expected to change in response to changes in climate for a variety of reasons. The most direct is the change in the erosive power of rainfall. Other reasons include: a) changes in plant canopy caused by shifts in plant biomass production associated with moisture regime; b) changes in litter cover on the ground caused by changes in both plant residue decomposition rates driven by temperature and moisture dependent soil microbial activity as well as plant biomass production rates; c) changes in soil moisture due to shifting precipitation regimes and evapo-transpiration rates, which changes infiltration and runoff ratios; d) soil erodibility changes due to decrease in soil organic matter concentrations in soils that lead to a soil structure that is more susceptible to erosion and increased runoff due to increased soil surface sealing and crusting; e) a shift of winter precipitation from non-erosive snow to erosive rainfall due to increasing winter temperatures; f) melting of permafrost, which induces an erodible soil state from a previously non-erodible one; and g) shifts in land use made necessary to accommodate new climatic regimes.[citation needed]

text: Studies by Pruski and Nearing indicated that, other factors such as land use unconsidered, it is reasonable to expect approximately a 1.7% change in soil erosion for each 1% change in total precipitation under climate change.[56] In recent studies, there are predicted increasex of rainfall erosivity by 17% in the United States[57] and by 18% in Europe.[58]

text: Global environmental effects[edit]

text: Due to the severity of its ecological effects, and the scale on which it is occurring, erosion constitutes one of the most significant global environmental problems we face today.[3]

text: Land degradation[edit]

text: Water and wind erosion are now the two primary causes of land degradation; combined, they are responsible for 84% of degraded acreage.[2]

text: Each year, about 75 billion tons of soil is eroded from the land—a rate that is about 13–40 times as fast as the natural rate of erosion.[61] Approximately 40% of the world's agricultural land is seriously degraded.[62] According to the United Nations, an area of fertile soil the size of Ukraine is lost every year because of drought, deforestation and climate change.[63] In Africa, if current trends of soil degradation continue, the continent might be able to feed just 25% of its population by 2025, according to UNU's Ghana-based Institute for Natural Resources in Africa.[64]

text: Recent modeling developments have quantified rainfall erosivity at global scale using high temporal resolution(<30 min) and high fidelity rainfall recordings. The results is an extensive global data collection effort produced the Global Rainfall Erosivity Database (GloREDa) which includes rainfall erosivity for 3,625 stations and covers 63 countries. This first ever Global Rainfall Erosivity Database was used to develop a global erosivity map [65] at 30 arc-seconds(~1 km) based on sophisticated geostatistical process. According to a new study[66] published in Nature Communications, almost 36 billion tons of soil is lost every year due to water, and deforestation and other changes in land use make the problem worse. The study investigates global soil erosion dynamics by means of high-resolution spatially distributed modelling (ca. 250 × 250 m cell size). The geo-statistical approach allows, for the first time, the thorough incorporation into a global soil erosion model of land use and changes in land use, the extent, types, spatial distribution of global croplands and the effects of different regional cropping systems.

text: The loss of soil fertility due to erosion is further problematic because the response is often to apply chemical fertilizers, which leads to further water and soil pollution, rather than to allow the land to regenerate.[67]

text: Sedimentation of aquatic ecosystems[edit]

text: Soil erosion (especially from agricultural activity) is considered to be the leading global cause of diffuse water pollution, due to the effects of the excess sediments flowing into the world's waterways. The sediments themselves act as pollutants, as well as being carriers for other pollutants, such as attached pesticide molecules or heavy metals.[68]

text: The effect of increased sediments loads on aquatic ecosystems can be catastrophic. Silt can smother the spawning beds of fish, by filling in the space between gravel on the stream bed. It also reduces their food supply, and causes major respiratory issues for them as sediment enters their gills. The biodiversity of aquatic plant and algal life is reduced, and invertebrates are also unable to survive and reproduce. While the sedimentation event itself might be relatively short-lived, the ecological disruption caused by the mass die off often persists long into the future.[69]

text: One of the most serious and long-running water erosion problems worldwide is in the People's Republic of China, on the middle reaches of the Yellow River and the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. From the Yellow River, over 1.6 billion tons of sediment flows into the ocean each year. The sediment originates primarily from water erosion in the Loess Plateau region of the northwest.[citation needed]

text: Airborne dust pollution[edit]

text: Soil particles picked up during wind erosion of soil are a major source of air pollution, in the form of airborne particulates—"dust". These airborne soil particles are often contaminated with toxic chemicals such as pesticides or petroleum fuels, posing ecological and public health hazards when they later land, or are inhaled/ingested.[70][71][72][73]

text: Dust from erosion acts to suppress rainfall and changes the sky color from blue to white, which leads to an increase in red sunsets[citation needed]. Dust events have been linked to a decline in the health of coral reefs across the Caribbean and Florida, primarily since the 1970s.[74] Similar dust plumes originate in the Gobi desert, which combined with pollutants, spread large distances downwind, or eastward, into North America.[75]

text: Monitoring, measuring and modeling soil erosion[edit]

text: This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2012)

text: Monitoring and modeling of erosion processes can help people better understand the causes of soil erosion, make predictions of erosion under a range of possible conditions, and plan the implementation of preventative and restorative strategies for erosion. However, the complexity of erosion processes and the number of scientific disciplines that must be considered to understand and model them (e.g. climatology, hydrology, geology, soil science, agriculture, chemistry, physics, etc.) makes accurate modelling challenging.[76][77][78] Erosion models are also non-linear, which makes them difficult to work with numerically, and makes it difficult or impossible to scale up to making predictions about large areas from data collected by sampling smaller plots.[79]

text: The most commonly used model for predicting soil loss from water erosion is the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE). This was developed in the 1960s and 1970s. It estimates the average annual soil loss A on a plot-sized area as:[80]

text: where R is the rainfall erosivity factor,[81][82] K is the soil erodibility factor,[83] L and S are topographic factors[84] representing length and slope,[85] C is the cover and management factor[86] and P is the support practices factor.[87]

text: Despite the USLE's plot-scale spatial focus, the model has often been used to estimate soil erosion on much larger areas, such as watersheds or even whole continents. For example, RUSLE has recently been used to quantify soil erosion across the whole of Europe. One major problem is that the USLE cannot simulate gully erosion, and so erosion from gullies is ignored in any USLE-based assessment of erosion. Yet erosion from gullies can be a substantial proportion (10–80%) of total erosion on cultivated and grazed land.[88]

text: During the 50 years since the introduction of the USLE, many other soil erosion models have been developed.[89] But because of the complexity of soil erosion and its constituent processes, all erosion models can give unsatisfactory results when validated i.e. when model predictions are compared with real-world measurements of erosion.[90][91] Thus new soil erosion models continue to be developed. Some of these remain USLE-based, e.g. the G2 model.[92][93] Other soil erosion models have largely (e.g. the Water Erosion Prediction Project model) or wholly (e.g. the Rangeland Hydrology and Erosion Model [94]) abandoned usage of USLE elements.

text: Prevention and remediation[edit]

text: The most effective known method for erosion prevention is to increase vegetative cover on the land, which helps prevent both wind and water erosion.[95] Terracing is an extremely effective means of erosion control, which has been practiced for thousands of years by people all over the world.[96] Windbreaks (also called shelterbelts) are rows of trees and shrubs that are planted along the edges of agricultural fields, to shield the fields against winds.[97] In addition to significantly reducing wind erosion, windbreaks provide many other benefits such as improved microclimates for crops (which are sheltered from the dehydrating and otherwise damaging effects of wind), habitat for beneficial bird species,[98] carbon sequestration,[99] and aesthetic improvements to the agricultural landscape.[100][101] Traditional planting methods, such as mixed-cropping (instead of monocropping) and crop rotation have also been shown to significantly reduce erosion rates.[102][103] Crop residues play a role in the mitigation of erosion, because they reduce the impact of raindrops breaking up the soil particles.[104] There is a higher potential for erosion when producing potatoes than when growing cereals, or oilseed crops.[105] Forages have a fibrous root system, which helps combat erosion by anchoring the plants to the top layer of the soil, and covering the entirety of the field, as it is a non-row crop.[106] In tropical coastal systems, properties of mangroves have been examined as a potential means to reduce soil erosion. Their complex root structures are known to help reduce wave damage from storms and flood impacts while binding and building soils. These roots can slow down water flow, leading to the deposition of sediments and reduced erosion rates. However, in order to maintain sediment balance, adequate mangrove forest width needs to be present.[107]


document_title: Mamma Mia! (film)

question_text: who plays sophie's fiance in mamma mia

question_tokens: who plays sophie 's fiance in mamma mia

text: Mamma Mia! (film)

text: Plot[edit]

text: On the Greek island of Kalokairi, 20-year-old bride-to-be Sophie Sheridan reveals to her bridesmaids that she has secretly invited three men to her wedding without telling her mother, Donna. They are the men that her mother's diary reveals could have been her father: Irish-American architect Sam Carmichael, Swedish adventurer and writer Bill Anderson, and British banker Harry Bright. She dreams of being given away by her father at her wedding, and believes that after she spends time with them she will know which is her father.

text: Sophie's mother Donna, who owns a villa, is ecstatic to reunite with her former Dynamos bandmates, wisecracking author Rosie Mulligan and wealthy multiple divorcée Tanya Chesham-Leigh, and reveals her bafflement at her daughter's desire to get married. Donna shows off the villa to Rosie and Tanya. The three men arrive and Sophie smuggles them to their room. She does not reveal that she believes one of them is her father, but does explain that she and not her mother sent the invitations. She begs them to hide so Donna will be surprised by the old friends of whom she "so often" favourably speaks. They overhear Donna working and swear not to reveal Sophie's secret.

text: Donna spies them and is dumbfounded to find herself facing former lovers, demanding they leave. She confides in Tanya and Rosie that she truly does not know which of the three fathered Sophie. Tanya and Rosie rally her spirits by getting her to dance with an all female ensemble of staff and islanders. Sophie finds the men aboard Bill's yacht, and they sail around Kalokairi, telling stories of Donna's carefree youth. Sophie plans to tell her fiancé Sky about her ploy, but loses her nerve. Sky and Sophie sing to each other, but Sky is abducted for his bachelor party.

text: At Sophie's bachelorette party, Donna, Tanya, and Rosie perform. When Sam, Bill, and Harry arrive, Sophie decides to talk with each of them alone. While her girlfriends dance with the men, Sophie learns from Bill that Donna received the money for her villa from his great-aunt Sofia. Sophie guesses she must be Sofia's namesake. She asks him to give her away and keep their secret until the wedding. Sophie's happiness is short-lived as Sam and Harry each pull her aside to tell her they are her father and will give her away. Sophie, overwhelmed by the consequences of raising the hopes of all three "fathers", faints.

text: In the morning, Rosie and Tanya assure Donna they will take care of the men. Bill and Harry intend to tell each other what they learned the previous night, but Rosie interrupts them. Donna confronts Sophie, believing Sophie wants the wedding stopped. Sophie says that all she wants is to avoid her mother's mistakes. Sam accosts Donna, concerned about Sophie getting married so young. Donna confronts him and they realize they still have feelings for each other. Tanya and young Pepper continue flirtations from the previous night. Sophie confesses to Sky and asks for his help. He reacts angrily to Sophie's deception and she turns to her mother for support. As Donna helps her daughter dress for the wedding, their rift is healed and Donna reminisces about Sophie's childhood. Donna admits her mother disowned her when she became pregnant. Sophie asks Donna to give her away. As the bridal party walks to the chapel, Sam intercepts Donna, who reveals the pain she felt over losing him.

text: Sophie and Donna walk down the aisle as the band plays. Donna tells Sophie and all gathered that her father could be any of the three men. Sam reveals that while he left Donna to get married, he did not go through with it, but returned to find Donna with another man. The men do not want paternity confirmed, agreeing to be one-third of a father for Sophie. She tells Sky they should postpone their wedding and travel the world. Sam proposes to Donna. She accepts and they are married. At the reception, Sam sings to Donna, Rosie makes a play for Bill and Harry openly admits he is gay. The couples proclaim their love. Sophie and Sky sail away.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Meryl Streep as Donna Sheridan, Sophie's mother, owner of the hotel Villa Donna.
Amanda Seyfried as Sophie Sheridan, Donna's 20-year-old daughter, Sky's fiancée.
Pierce Brosnan as Sam Carmichael, Sophie's possible father (or new step-father) and an Irish-American architect, Donna's one true love and (eventual) husband.
Colin Firth as Harry Bright, Sophie's possible father and a British banker.
Stellan Skarsgård as Bill Anderson, Sophie's possible father, a Swedish sailor and travel writer.
Dominic Cooper as Sky, Sophie's fiancé, designing a website for the hotel.
Julie Walters as Rosie Mulligan, one of Donna's former bandmates in Donna and the Dynamos; an unmarried fun-loving author.
Christine Baranski as Tanya Chesham-Leigh, Donna's other former bandmate; a rich three-time divorcee.
Philip Michael as Pepper, Sky's best man who likes Tanya. He is also a bartender.
Juan Pablo Di Pace as Petros.
Ashley Lilley as Ali, close friend of Sophie and her bridesmaid.
Rachel McDowall as Lisa, close friend of Sophie and her bridesmaid.
Enzo Squillino as Gregoris, one of Donna Sheridan's employees.
Niall Buggy as Father Alex, priest who nearly married Sophie and Sky, but ends up marrying Sam and Donna.

text:
Benny Andersson as "Dancing Queen" piano player
Björn Ulvaeus as Greek god
Rita Wilson as Greek goddess

text: Musical numbers[edit]

text: The following songs are included in the film, of which 18 (including a hidden track) are on the soundtrack album, and 3 are excluded:

text:
"I Have a Dream" – Sophie
"Honey, Honey" – Sophie, Ali and Lisa
"Money, Money, Money" – Donna, Tanya, Rosie and Company
"Mamma Mia" – Donna, Sophie, Ali, Lisa and Greek Chorus
"Chiquitita" – Rosie, Tanya and Donna
"Dancing Queen" – Tanya, Rosie, Donna and Company
"Our Last Summer" – Harry, Bill, Sam and Sophie
"Lay All Your Love on Me" – Sky, Sophie, Sky's Bachelor party friends.
"Super Trouper" – Donna, Tanya and Rosie
"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" – Sophie, Donna, Tanya, Rosie, Ali, Lisa and Greek Chorus
"Voulez-Vous" – Donna, Sam, Tanya, Rosie, Harry, Bill, Sky, Ali, Lisa and Pepper
"The Name of the Game" – Sophie (deleted scene)
"SOS" – Sam, Donna and Greek Chorus
"Does Your Mother Know" – Tanya, Pepper, Lisa, Guys and Girls
"Slipping Through My Fingers" – Donna and Sophie
"The Winner Takes It All" – Donna
"I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do" – Sam, Donna and Company
"When All Is Said and Done" – Sam, Donna and Company
"Take a Chance on Me" – Rosie, Bill, Tanya, Pepper, Harry and Company
"Mamma Mia!" (Reprise) – Company
"I Have a Dream" (Reprise) – Sophie
"Dancing Queen" (Reprise) – Donna, Rosie and Tanya
"Waterloo" – Donna, Rosie, Tanya, Sam, Bill, Harry, Sky and Sophie
"Thank You for the Music" – Sophie

tag: ol

text: The Musical Director of the film was Grammy-Award winner[2] Martin Lowe, a graduate of the University of Hull.[3]

text: Production[edit]

text: Most of the outdoor scenes were filmed on location at the small Greek island of Skopelos (during August/September 2007),[4] and the seaside hamlet of Damouchari in the Pelion area of Greece. On Skopelos, Kastani beach on the south west coast was the film's main location site.[4] The producers built a beach bar and jetty along the beach, but removed both set pieces after production wrapped.[4] A complete set for Donna's Greek villa was built at the 007 stage at Pinewood Studios and most of the film was shot there. Real trees were utilised for the set, watered daily through an automated watering system and given access to daylight in order to keep them growing.

text: The part of the film where Brosnan's character, Sam, leaves his New York office to go to the Greek Island was actually filmed at the Lloyd's Building on Lime Street in the City of London. He dashes down the escalators and through the porte-cochere, where yellow cabs and actors representing New York mounted police were used for authenticity.[5]

text: The Fernando, Bill Anderson's yacht (actually a ketch) in the film was the Tai-Mo-Shan built in 1934 by H. S. Rouse at the Hong Kong and Whampoa dockyards.[6][7]

text: Meryl Streep took opera singing lessons as a child, and as an adult, she previously sang in several films, including Postcards from the Edge, Silkwood, Death Becomes Her, and A Prairie Home Companion.[8] She was a fan of the stage show Mamma Mia! after seeing it on Broadway in September 2001, when she found the show to be an affirmation of life in the midst of the destruction of 9/11.[9]

text: Release[edit]

text: Though the world premiere of the film occurred elsewhere, most of the media attention was focused on the Swedish premiere, where Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Fältskog joined Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson with the cast at the Rival Theatre in Mariatorget, Stockholm, owned by Andersson, on July 4, 2008. It was the first time all four members of ABBA had been photographed together since 1986.[10]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Mamma Mia! received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 54% of critics gave the film positive reviews based upon a sample of 175 reviews, with an average rating of 5.5/10.[11] The Times gave it four stars out of five,[12] as did Channel 4 (Britain) which said it had "all the swing and sparkle of sequined bell-bottoms."[13] BBC Radio 5 Live's film critic Mark Kermode admitted to enjoying the film, despite describing the experience as 'the closest you get to see A-List actors doing drunken karaoke'.[14] The Guardian was more negative, giving it one star, stating that the film gave the reviewer a "need to vomit",[15] while Bob Chipman of Escape to the Movies said it was "so base, so shallow and so hinged on meaningless spectacle, it's amazing it wasn't made for men".[16] The Daily Telegraph stated that it was enjoyable but poorly put together ("Finding the film a total shambles was sort of a shame, but I have a sneaking suspicion I'll go to see it again anyway."),[17] whereas Empire said it was "cute, clean, camp fun, full of sunshine and toe tappers."[18]

text: The casting of actors not known for their singing abilities led to some mixed reviews. Variety stated that "some stars, especially the bouncy and rejuvenated Streep, seem better suited for musical comedy than others, including Brosnan and Skarsgård."[19] Brosnan, especially, was savaged by many critics: his singing was compared to "a water buffalo" (New York Magazine),[20] "a donkey braying" (The Philadelphia Inquirer)[21] and "a wounded raccoon" (The Miami Herald),[22] and Matt Brunson of Creative Loafing Charlotte said he "looks physically pained choking out the lyrics, as if he's being subjected to a prostate exam just outside of the camera's eye."[23]

text: Box office[edit]

text: Mamma Mia! grossed a worldwide total of $602.6 million and is the fifth highest-grossing film of 2008.[1] It became the highest grossing live-action musical of all time, until it was surpassed by Bill Condon's Beauty and the Beast in 2017. It was also the highest-grossing movie directed by a woman, until it was surpassed by Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman in 2017.[24] It is the third highest-grossing film of 2008 internationally (i.e., outside North America) with an international total of $458.4 million and the thirteenth highest gross of 2008 in North America (the US and Canada) with $144.1 million.

text: In the United Kingdom, Mamma Mia! has grossed £69.2 million as of January 23, 2009, and is the ninth highest-grossing film of all time at the UK box office.[25] The film opened at #1 in the U.K, taking £6.6 million on 496 screens. It managed to hold onto the top spot for 2 weeks, narrowly keeping Pixar's WALL-E from reaching #1 in its second week.[citation needed]

text: When released on July 3 in Greece, the film grossed $1.6 million in its opening weekend, ranking #1 at the Greek box office.[26]

text: The film made $9.6 million in its opening day in the United States and Canada, and $27.6 million in its opening weekend, ranking #2 at the box office, behind The Dark Knight.[27] At the time, it made Mamma Mia! the record-holder for the highest grossing opening weekend for a movie based on a Broadway musical, surpassing Hairspray's box office record in 2007 and later surpassed by Into the Woods.[28]

text: Awards and nominations[edit]

text:
Golden Globe Awards[29]

Best Motion Picture: Comedy or Musical—nominated
Best Actress in a Motion Picture: Comedy or Musical (Meryl Streep)—nominated

BAFTA Awards[30]

Outstanding British Film—nominated
The Carl Foreman Award for Special Achievement by a British Director, Writer or Producer for their First Feature Film (Judy Craymer)—nominated
Outstanding Music (Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus)—nominated

Golden Raspberry Awards[31]

Worst Supporting Actor (Pierce Brosnan)—won

text: Home media[edit]

text: In November 2008, Mamma Mia! became the fastest-selling DVD of all time in the UK, according to Official UK Charts Company figures. It sold 1,669,084 copies on its first day of release, breaking the previous record (held by Titanic) by 560,000 copies. By the end of 2008, the Official UK Charts Company declared that it had become the biggest selling DVD ever in the UK, with one in every four households owning a copy (over 5 million copies sold).[32] The record was previously held by Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl with sales of 4.7 million copies.

text: In the United States, the DVD made over $30 million on its first day of release.[33] By December 31, 2008, Mamma Mia! became the best-selling DVD of all time in Sweden with 545,000 copies sold.[34]

text:
Sing-along
"The Name of the Game" deleted musical number
Audio commentary with director Phyllida Lloyd

text: The single-disc DVD released in Sweden on 26 November contains all of the following:

text:
Sing-along
"The Name of the Game" deleted musical number
Deleted scenes
Outtakes
The Making of Mamma Mia! featurette
Anatomy of a Musical Number: "Lay All Your Love on Me"
Becoming a Singer featurette
A look inside Mamma Mia! featurette
"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" music video
Björn Ulvaeus cameo
Audio commentary with director Phyllida Lloyd
German and English audio
Subtitles in English, German, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish and Icelandic

text: The widescreen single-disc includes a bonus disc which includes:

text:
Limited time only digital copy
Deleted scenes and outtakes
The Making of Mamma Mia! featurette
Anatomy of a Musical Number: "Lay All Your Love on Me"
Becoming a Singer featurette
Behind the scenes with Amanda
On Location in Greece featurette
A Look Inside Mamma Mia! featurette
"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" music video
Björn Ulvaeus cameo

text:
Universal Pictures' U-Control[35]
Behind the Hits (details and trivia of the music while the musical performance plays)
Picture-in-picture (access to cast and crew interviews and behind the scene while the movie plays)

text: A bonus disc is included in a separate case and bundled with the movie, and includes:[36]

text:
A Talented Trio: The Creators of Mamma Mia! (creator bios)
Christine Baranski and the Boys (choreography of "Does Your Mother Know?")
Breaking Down "Voulez-Vous" (choreography)
More of "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" (choreography)
Meryl's Big Number (choreography of "Mamma Mia")
VH1's 10 Most Excellent Things: Mamma Mia! (documentary clip)

text: Sequel[edit]

text: Because of the film's financial success, Hollywood studio chief David Linde, the co-chairman of Universal Studios told The Daily Mail that it would take a while, but there could be a sequel. He stated that he would be delighted if Judy Craymer, Catherine Johnson, Phyllida Lloyd, Benny Andersson, and Björn Ulvaeus agreed to the project, noting that there are still plenty of ABBA songs to use.[37] Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again was announced on May 19, 2017, with a planned release date of July 20, 2018.[38] It will be written and directed by Ol Parker.[39] On June 1, 2017, it was announced that Seyfried would be returning as Sophie.[40] Later that month, Dominic Cooper confirmed in an interview that he would be returning for the sequel along with Streep, Firth and Brosnan.[41] In July 2017, Baranski was confirmed to return as Tanya.[42] That same month, Lily James was confirmed to portray young Donna.[43] Jeremy Irvine and Alexa Davies are also set to portray younger versions of Sam and Rosie, respectively.[44] Julie Walters and Stellan Skarsgård will also return as Rosie and Bill, respectively.[45]