The Volta Lake and Declining Rainfall and Streamflows in the Volta River Basin

This paper looks at the rainfall and streamflow patterns over two distinct time periods, i.e., 1950–1970 and 1971–1991 within the two most prominent catchments in the Volta river system – White Volta and the Oti basins. The first period (1950–1970) represents relatively vegetated catchments and low population whilst the latter (1971–1990) represents intense land use practices resulting from increased population that have severely degraded the environment. These two catchments are among the most significant contributors to the Volta lake. The Volta lake, which was formed between 1962 and 1966 in Ghana and created primarily for hydroelectric power generation, will probably be one of the greatest man-made lakes for a long time. It produces 912MW of electricity at its maximum operating capacity. Recently, there have been declines in the lake levels resulting most probably from inadequate rainfall and/or runoff from the river catchments that feed the lake. Comparisons of runoffs for the two time periods show reductions in mean streamflows of 32.5% at Saboba on the Oti and 23.1% at Nawuni on the White Volta.     

油污土壤生物修复实验研究

为了有效预防和治理因石油开采、运输等造成的土壤污染,对大庆地区油污土壤进行了生物修复的实验研究,通过室内盆栽模拟实验,对芦苇和香蒲根际土壤的石油类污染物总含量、石油烃类组分浓度、非烃组分浓度进行了测定。结果表明,芦苇和香蒲对石油类污染物具有比较明显的降解作用,可以使被污染土壤中的某些油污成分逐渐被选择性消耗。实验还可看出,芦苇和香蒲对石油类污染物中正构烷烃的降解能力高于非正构烃。总体看,芦苇对石油类污染物的降解能力强于香蒲,但芦苇对非正构烃的降解能力略逊于香蒲。     

化学工业园区规划环评指标体系初探

本文以某化工园区规划环评为例,根据化工区的行业特点,在总结国内外相关研究的基础上,探讨了化工园区规划环评指标体系设置原则和基本程序。在充分考虑了发展循环经济和生态工业、实现区域可持续发展、持续推进清洁生产等方面的基础上,通过基础指标初步筛选、多角度指标分析和专家咨询、公众参与等三个步骤的筛选,最终形成了一套适合于该化工园区规划环评指标体系。     

采用两段SBR工艺处理石化废水

采用两段序批式活性污泥反应器（SBR）工艺处理高浓度石化废水，考察了DO、MLSS、反应温度对废水处理效果的影响。实验结果表明，两段SBR系统中有机物降解存在着不同的作用机理，第一段主要以去除易降解有机物为主，第二段主要以去除难降解有机物为主。在进水COD为4000mg／L、SBR1中DO为4～5mg／L、MLSS为5000mg／L，SBR2中DO为2～4mg／L、MLSS为3000mg／L、反应温度约为20℃的条件下，废水COD去除率达90％以上。     

Pilot‐scale evaluation using bioaugmentation to enhance PCE dissolution at dover AFB national test site

An Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council (ITRC) forum was recently held that focused on six case studies in which bioremediation of dense nonaqueous‐phase liquids (DNAPLs) was performed; the objective was to demonstrate that there is credible evidence for bioremediation as a viable environmental remediation technology. The first two case studies from the forum have been previously published; this third case study involves a pilot‐scale demonstration that investigated the effects of biological activity on enhancing dissolution of an emplaced tetrachloroethene (PCE) DNAPL source. It used a controlled‐release test cell with PCE as the primary DNAPL in a porous media groundwater system. Both laboratory tests and a field‐scale pilot test demonstrated that bioaugmentation can stimulate complete dechlorination to a nontoxic end product and that the mass flux from a source zone increases when biological dehalorespiration activity is enhanced through nutrient (electron donor) addition and bioaugmentation. All project goals were met. Important achievements include demonstrating the ability to degrade a PCE DNAPL source to ethene and obtaining significant information on the impacts to the microbial populations and corresponding isotope enrichments during biodegradation of a source area. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

地震作用下结构失稳诱发的塌陷和地裂缝机理分析

分析了地震诱发的地表塌陷和地裂缝机制。通过地裂缝微观机理分析研究发现:(1)地震造成了大量的地裂缝和塌陷,这些破坏的出现与地震发生时造成的瞬间应力变化和结构破坏密切相关;(2)利用结构突变失稳理论来研究岩土体内部结构是可行的。当应力状态满足孔隙结构失稳判别式时,结构元的变形状态将产生一个“跳跃”;(3)地震情况下岩土体颗粒之间有效接触力的增加,使得结构的变形能增大;同时导致颗粒间连接刚度的降低,导致结构的失稳,这些变化又是在瞬间发生和完成的,这就造成了在地震发生时总是伴随着大量的裂缝和塌陷的出现。     

Place experience, gestalt, and the human–nature relationship

This paper explores some ways in which differing views about the human–nature relationship reflect and are reflected in people's experiences of the places and environments they encounter in their lives. I first describe how ideas of humans being “part of” versus “apart from” nature have appeared in discussions of environmental ethics and management, and suggest how these contrasting views might relate to people's actual experiences of the natural and human aspects of places. Using qualitative survey responses about outdoor places in the midwestern USA to illustrate ideas from phenomenological and gestalt psychology, I show how a sense of the human–nature relationship is conveyed in the gestalt qualities of places and how this may give rise to a feeling of moral responsibility toward nature. I conclude that the experience of human and natural aspects of real places points toward a dialectical view of the human–nature relationship, in which humans can be seen as simultaneously “part of” and “apart from” nature.     

DIN Retention‐Transport Through Four Hydrologically Connected Zones in a Headwater Catchment of the Upper Mississippi River1

Abstract: Dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) retention‐transport through a headwater catchment was synthesized from studies encompassing four distinct hydrologic zones of the Shingobee River Headwaters near the origin of the Mississippi River. The hydrologic zones included: (1) hillslope ground water (ridge to bankside riparian); (2) alluvial riparian ground water; (3) ground water discharged through subchannel sediments (hyporheic zone); and (4) channel surface water. During subsurface hillslope transport through Zone 1, DIN, primarily nitrate, decreased from ～3 mg‐N/l to <0.1 mg‐N/l. Ambient seasonal nitrate:chloride ratios in hillslope flow paths indicated both dilution and biotic processing caused nitrate loss. Biologically available organic carbon controlled biotic nitrate retention during hillslope transport. In the alluvial riparian zone (Zone 2) biologically available organic carbon controlled nitrate depletion although processing of both ambient and amended nitrate was faster during the summer than winter. In the hyporheic zone (Zone 3) and stream surface water (Zone 4) DIN retention was primarily controlled by temperature. Perfusion core studies using hyporheic sediment indicated sufficient organic carbon in bed sediments to retain ground water DIN via coupled nitrification‐denitrification. Numerical simulations of seasonal hyporheic sediment nitrification‐denitrification rates from perfusion cores adequately predicted surface water ammonium but not nitrate when compared to 5 years of monthly field data (1989‐93). Mass balance studies in stream surface water indicated proportionally higher summer than winter N retention. Watershed DIN retention was effective during summer under the current land use of intermittently grazed pasture. However, more intensive land use such as row crop agriculture would decrease nitrate retention efficiency and increase loads to surface water. Understanding DIN retention capacity throughout the system, including special channel features such as sloughs, wetlands and floodplains that provide surface water‐ground water connectivity, will be required to develop effective nitrate management strategies.