Optical Resilience of the Paraíba do Sul River (Brazil) during a Toxic Spill of a Wood-Pulping Factory: The Cataguazes Accident

This study investigates the inherent optical properties (IOP) of a Brazilian river during a non-natural, anthropogenically mediated, toxic spill of a wood-pulping factory (the ‘Cataguazes accident’). The results indicated an outstanding transformation in the river water chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) pools. For instance, increases in CDOM absorption coefficients, a _CDOM (λ), which were averaged at specific spectral intervals, , ranged from 58-fold at the UV-B and UV-A ranges to 95-fold at the PAR range. As a result, the water color expressed as CDOM absorption at 440 nm, a _CDOM (440), varied from 4.16 to 365.03 m^-1. For S-coefficient, the variations ranged from ∼1.1 to 5.6-fold, respectively, at the 300–650 nm and UV-B range. The variability of S as a proxy of dissolved chromophores was thus clearly influenced by the spectral range used. Optical proportions were also investigated through the use of and S ratios at the UV-B, UV-A, and PAR ranges and, in the case of , also at the NIR range. This approach also showed clear variations between the water samples, likely reflecting changes in the composition of optically active substances in the river system. As a whole, the findings obtained here indicated that both the quantity and quality of the chromophoric material dissolved in the river water were greatly altered by the toxic spill. The changes in the optical properties of the river water, although extreme and likely with no parallel in the literature, were quite rapid as indicated by the optical resilience of the system. Overall, this study indicates that IOP might be thought, and possibly used, as a metric tool for monitoring the state of waters and aquatic ecosystems.     

Reactive uptake of NO2 on volcanic particles: A possible source of HONO in the atmosphere

The heterogeneous degradation of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) on five samples of natural Icelandic volcanic particles has been investigated. Laboratory experiments were carried out under simulated atmospheric conditions using a coated wall flow tube (CWFT). The CWFT reactor was coupled to a blue light nitrogen oxides analyzer (NO_x analyzer), and a long path absorption photometer (LOPAP) to monitor in real time the concentrations of NO₂, NO and HONO, respectively. Under dark and ambient relative humidity conditions, the steady state uptake coefficients of NO₂ varied significantly between the volcanic samples probably due to differences in magma composition and morphological variation related with the density of surface OH groups. The irradiation of the surface with simulated sunlight enhanced the uptake coefficients by a factor of three indicating that photo-induced processes on the surface of the dust occur. Furthermore, the product yields of NO and HONO were determined under both dark and simulated sunlight conditions. The relative humidity was found to influence the distribution of gaseous products, promoting the formation of gaseous HONO. A detailed reaction mechanism is proposed that supports our experimental observations. Regarding the atmospheric implications, our results suggest that the NO₂ degradation on volcanic particles and the corresponding formation of HONO is expected to be significant during volcanic dust storms or after a volcanic eruption.     

Factors influencing Aerosol Characteristics over Urban Environment

Atmospheric aerosols are an important contributing factor to turbidity in urban areas besides having impact on health. Aerosol characteristics show a high degree of variability in space and time as anthropogenic share of total aerosol loading is quite substantial and is essential to monitor the aerosol features over long time scales. In the present study extensive observations of columnar aerosol optical depth (AOD), total columnar ozone (TCO) and precipitable water content (PWC) have been carried over a tropical urban city of Hyderabad, India. Significant variations of AOD have been observed during course of the day with low values of AOD during morning and evening hours and high values during afternoon hours. Spectral variation of AOD exhibits high AOD at smaller wavelengths and vice versa except a slight enhancement in AOD at 500 nm. Anomalies in AOD, particulate matter and black carbon concentrations have been observed during May, 2003. Back trajectory analysis of air mass during these episodes suggested variation in air mass trajectories. Analysis of the results suggests that air trajectories from land region north of study area cause high loading of atmospheric aerosols. The results are discussed in the paper.     

Parameters Influencing Sediments Resuspension and the Link to Sorption of Inorganic Compounds

In the aquatic environment, the accumulation of chemicalcontaminants by sediments poses a potential threat to endemiclife forms and drinking water resources. Trace metals such asCd, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb, and toxic organic compounds, are among awide variety of contaminants having an affinity for sediments.In this study, experiments were performed simulating sedimentresuspension in the lower Housatonic River, Connecticut, using aParticle Entrainment Simulator. Analyses of grain sizedistributions, porosities and total organic contents of thesediments suggested that these parameters influence theredistribution and entrainment of settleable solids in the watercolumn. These findings were established by evaluating the impactof one parameter on sediment resuspension as a function ofstream flow with the other two characteristics being heldconstant. Total suspended solids and volatile suspended solidsresuspension concentration ranged from 3.2 to 20648.3 mg L^-1,and 1.5 to 1823.8 mg L^-1, respectively, with subsequentincreases in flow rates from 9 to 6 dynes cm^-2. The resuspension concentrations were augmentedby sediment porosity (22.0 to 57.5%), percent finer grain-size distributions at 0.1 mm, and total organic content (2.7 g kg^-1 to 29.0 g kg^-1). Using K _p values, and the dissolvedcontaminant levels of various trace metals, the particulatecontaminant levels of the metals were determined under variousoscillation rates. As sediment resuspension increased withincreased stream flow, there was an overall general increasefrom 0.02 to 33.6 g L^-1 in the particulatecontaminant levels of Cd, Cu, Cr, Ni and Pb.     

烃类化合物气相色谱保留指数与其分配系数关系研究

报道了从烃类化合物气相色谱保留指数预测其正辛醇水分配系数的公式，研究了以不同极性相上测得的烃类化合物保留指数预测其分配系数的准确性，得出弱极性柱上测得的化合物保留指数能更准确的预测其分配系数，从而为烃类化合物分配系数的测定和预测提供了一种简便易行的新方法。     

Quantitative structure-property relationship of aromatic sulfur-containing carboxylates

IntroductionItiswidelyrecognizedthatthephysicochemicalprofileoforganicchemicalslargelydeterminestheirdistributionbetweenenvironmentalmedia .Fortheenvironmentalbehaviorsoforganiccontaminants,watersolubility(SW)andoctanol waterpartitioncoefficient(KOW)aretremendouslyimportant.Octanol waterpartitioncoefficienthasbeenwidelyrelatedtobiochemicaland orbiologicalactivityinquantitativestructure activityrelationships(QSARs) (Leo ,1 971 ) .Watersolubilitycorrespondstothedispersiontendencyandtothereca…     

苯并(a)芘在黄河水体不同粒径颗粒物上的表面吸附和分配作用特征

模拟实验研究了苯并(a)芘在黄河水体不同粒径颗粒物上的吸附作用,重点探讨了颗粒物粒径对苯并(a)芘的表面吸附和分配作用的影响.结果表明:(1)苯并(a)芘在黄河水体颗粒物上的吸附符合表面吸附-分配作用复合模式(2)苯并(a)芘在粒径d≥0.025 mm颗粒物上的吸附以表面吸附为主,表面吸附对吸附的贡献在68.7%至82.4%之间;当苯并(a)芘液相平衡浓度为0～8.87μg·L-1时,其在粒径0 007 mm≤d＜0.025 mm颗粒物上的吸附以表吸附作用为主,当液相平衡浓度大于8.87μg·L-1时,吸附以分配作用为主;苯并(a)芘在粒径d＜0.007 mm颗粒物上的吸附以分配作用为主;(3)苯并(a)芘在不同粒径颗粒物上的表面吸附对总吸附的贡献大小顺序为:(d≥0.025 mm)＞(0.007 mm≤d＜0 025 mm)＞(d＜0.007 mm);(4)苯并(a)芘在不同粒径颗粒物中的分配系数与有机质含量呈线性相关,其标化分配系数Koc约为1.26×105L·kg-1.     

多次相平衡/液上色谱法的原理与实验--水中挥发烃及其分配常数的测定

介绍了一次、二次及多次相平衡/液上色谱法测定水中有机挥发烃及其气液分配常数的理论关系式。给出分配常数倒数与定量分析误差存在线性关系;研究了温度、离子强度等因素对分配常数的影响。     

多环芳烃的分配系数与双区理论

以双区理论为基础,提出了多环芳烃的致癌性与其分配系数之间的定量关系方程,并利用该方程计算了77个多环芳烃的致癌性。计算值与实验值基本符合。     

紫木凼金矿开采过程中的环境效应:2.污染趋势分析

主要对紫木凼金矿区CN- 、As、Hg、Pb、Zn五个污染项目进行了趋势分析和污染预测。氰化物虽然是剧毒污染物 ,但它具有很强的自净降解作用 ,对矿区的污染影响不大 ,只是对于废液池的清洗外排必须先治理后排放。建立了As、Hg、Pb、Zn在各个污染途径中的定量分配模式。该模式表明 ,开采过程中As、Hg、Pb的大部分 ( 64 %以上 )进入废液池外排 ,其余的进入矿渣。在此基础上 ,对这些元素从 1 989年到 2 0 0 0年的开采总量、进入废液、土壤、积水坑的分量进行了计算 ,并给出了在堆场下伏粘土中各元素的饱和吸附量和开始外排的时间。