Where does zoning collide?

In a mineral, zoning is the layered variation in chemical composition that a single crystal records as it grows, preserved as concentric bands running from core to rim. Sorby's 1858 On the microscopical structure of crystals established that a crystal keeps a readable record of its growth in its internal structure, and Shore and Fowler's 1996 Oscillatory zoning in minerals showed that rhythmic compositional banding is a common feature across many mineral groups. Here the referent is a chemical growth record inside one crystal, not a legal division of land into districts and not a band of organisms on a shore.[1][2]

Unit

One crystal's set of compositional bands, from core to rim

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Mapped by electron microprobe traverses, back-scattered electron imaging, and cathodoluminescence across a crystal section

Land-use zoning is the division of a municipality into districts, each with its own rules for what may be built and how the land may be used. New York City's 1916 Building Zone Resolution introduced comprehensive zoning in the United States, the practice was upheld as constitutional by the Supreme Court in Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co. (1926), and Fischel's 2004 economic history traced how zoning spread and how it came to restrict the supply of housing. Here the referent is a municipal rule that assigns permitted uses to parcels of land, not a chemical band inside a crystal and not a stripe of life on a rocky coast.[3][4]

Unit

One zoning district's rule set for permitted uses and building form

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Read from a municipality's zoning map and ordinance, coded by district class, allowed density, and permitted use

On a rocky shore, zonation is the arrangement of marine life into horizontal bands set by height relative to the tide, so that different organisms dominate at different levels between the low and high water marks. Stephenson and Stephenson's 1949 The universal features of zonation between tide-marks on rocky coasts proposed that this banding follows a common pattern on shores worldwide, defined by reference to the tides rather than by fixed elevations. Here the referent is a vertical band of living organisms on a coast, not a chemical layer inside a crystal and not a legal district drawn on a map.[5]

Unit

One shore band of organisms occupying a range of tidal height

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Recorded by transect surveys down the shore, scoring which species dominate at each tidal level