Purification of water contaminated with Hg using horizontal subsurface constructed wetlands

As a global pollutant, Hg (Hg) since the turn of the last century has received increased attention. Decreasing the emission of Hg into the food chain and the atmosphere is an effective way to reduce the Hg damage. The current study provided information about pilot-scale horizontal subsurface flow (HSSF) constructed wetlands (CWs) to remove different Hg species in polluted water. Synthetic wastewater was fed to two HSSF CWs, one was planted with Acorus calamus L and the other was unplanted as a control. The total Hg (THg), dissolved Hg (DHg), and particulate Hg (PHg) from five sites along the HSSF CWs were analyzed to describe the process of Hg removal. Results show that the CWs have high removal efficiency of Hg which is more than 90%. The removal efficiencies of THg and DHg from the unplanted CW were 92.1?±?3.6% and 72.4?±?13.1%, respectively. While, the removal efficiencies of THg and DHg in planted CW were 95.9?±?7.5% and 94.9?±?4.9%, which were higher than that in blank CW. The PHg was mainly removed in the first quarter of the CWs, which was also revealed by the partition coefficient K_d. To a certain extent, the effect of plants depends on the hydraulic retention time (HRT). The results in the current study show the potential of the HSSF-CWs for restoration from Hg-contaminated water.

     

Assessing the sustainability of major cities in China

Rapid urbanization in the developing world calls for attention to address the issue of urban sustainability, especially in emerging countries such as China, where social equity and environmental conditions have been marginalized by the rapid economic development. In this paper, we addressed the above issue with an attempt to answer the following questions: (1) How did the sustainability of Chinese cities evolve over time? (2) What are the driving forces for the evolution? By constructing a composite index that incorporates three major aspects of sustainability, economy, environment, and social equity, we characterized the recent evolution of Chinese cities and assessed the disparity among regions in terms of the sustainability measures. Further, we analyzed the driving forces for the change of sustainability indices through a driving force-pressure-state-effect model. We substantiate our numerical analysis of Chinese cities with a detailed case study of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Autonomous Region, which has experienced significant change over the past 3 decades in every aspect of sustainability. We highlight some fundamental socioeconomic driving forces that have caused spatial restructuring, reflected by land-use change, and consequently impacted the urban environment of Urumqi. A brief case analysis of Guangzhou is also provided.     

Land-cover change in upper Barataria Basin estuary,Louisiana, 1972-1992: increases in Wetland area

The Barataria Basin, Louisiana, USA, is an extensive wetland and coastal estuary system of great economic and intrinsic value. Although high rates of wetland loss along the coastal margin of the Barataria Basin have been well documented, little information exists on whether freshwater wetlands in the upper basin have changed. Our objectives were to quantify land-cover change in the upper basin over 20 years from 1972–1992 and to determine land-cover transition rates among land-cover types. Using 80-m resolution Landsat MSS data from the North American Landscape Characterization (NALC) data archive, we classified images from three time steps (1972, 1985, 1992) into six land-cover types: agriculture, urban, bottomland hardwood forest, swamp forest, freshwater marsh, and open water. Significant changes in land cover occurred within the upper Barataria Basin over the study period. Urban land increased from 8% to 17% of the total upper basin area, primarily due to conversions from agricultural land, and to a lesser degree, bottomland forest. Swamp forest increased from 30% to 41%, associated with conversions from bottomland hardwood forest and freshwater marsh. Overall, bottomland forest decreased 38% and total wetland area increased 21%. Within the upper Barataria, increases in total wetland area may be due to land subsidence. Based on our results, if present trends in the reduction of bottomland forest land cover were to continue, the upper Barataria Basin may have no bottomland hardwood forests left by the year 2025, as it is subjected to multiple stressors both in the higher elevations (from urbanization) and lower elevations (most likely from land subsidence). These results suggest that changes in the upper freshwater portions of coastal estuaries can be large and quite different from patterns observed in the more saline coastal margins.     

基于GF-1 WFV影像和BP神经网络的太湖叶绿素a反演

叶绿素a浓度是可直接遥感反演的重要水质参数之一,常用来评价湖泊水体的富营养化程度.太湖是典型的二类水体,光学性质复杂,应用一类水体线性反演模式拟合较为片面且难以找到最佳拟合模型.BP神经网络模型具有模拟复杂非线性问题的功能.为研究高分一号卫星16m多光谱相机WFV4结合BP神经网络进行太湖叶绿素a浓度监测的可行性,实验利用GF-1 WFV4影像和实时的地面采样数据,建立了BP神经网络模型,同时采用波段比值经验模型进行对比.经精度检验,BP神经网络模型预测值与实测值之间的可决系数R2高达0.9680,而波段比值模型的R2为0.9541,且均方根误差RMSE由波段比值模型的18.7915降低为BP神经网络模型的7.6068,平均相对误差e也由波段比值模型的19.16%降低为BP神经网络模型的6.75%.结果证明,GF-1 WFV4影像应用BP神经网络模型反演太湖叶绿素a浓度较波段比值模型精度有所提高.将经过水体掩膜的GF-1 WFV4影像用于训练好的BP神经网络反演太湖叶绿素a浓度分布,结果显示,叶绿素a高浓度区集中分布在湖心区北部、竺山湾、梅梁湾区域,与之前的研究一致.本文研究结果验证了采用BP神经网络模型对GF-1 WFV4影像进行太湖叶绿素a浓度反演的可行性.     

Quantifying the Effect of Ecological Restoration on Soil Erosion in China’s Loess Plateau Region: An Application of the MMF Approach

Land degradation due to erosion is one of the most serious environmental problems in China. To reduce land degradation, the government has taken a number of conservation and restoration measures, including the Sloping Land Conversion Program (SLCP), which was launched in 1999. A logical question is whether these measures have reduced soil erosion at the regional level. The objective of this article is to answer this question by assessing soil erosion dynamics in the Zuli River basin in the Loess Plateau of China from 1999 to 2006. The MMF (Morgan, Morgan and Finney) model was used to simulate changes in runoff and soil erosion over the period of time during which ecological restoration projects were implemented. Some model variables were derived from remotely sensed images to provide improved land surface representation. With an overall accuracy rate of 0.67, our simulations show that increased ground vegetation cover, especially in forestlands and grasslands, has reduced soil erosion by 38.8% on average from 1999 to 2006. During the same time period, however, the change in rainfall pattern has caused a 13.1% ± 4.3% increase in soil erosion, resulting in a net 25.7% ± 8.5% reduction in soil erosion. This suggests that China’s various ecological restoration efforts have been effective in reducing soil loss.     

Quantifying Terrestrial Ecosystem Carbon Dynamics in the Jinsha Watershed, Upper Yangtze, China from 1975 to 2000

Quantifying the spatial and temporal dynamics of carbon stocks in terrestrial ecosystems and carbon fluxes between the terrestrial biosphere and the atmosphere is critical to our understanding of regional patterns of carbon budgets. Here we use the General Ensemble biogeochemical Modeling System to simulate the terrestrial ecosystem carbon dynamics in the Jinsha watershed of China’s upper Yangtze basin from 1975 to 2000, based on unique combinations of spatial and temporal dynamics of major driving forces, such as climate, soil properties, nitrogen deposition, and land use and land cover changes. Our analysis demonstrates that the Jinsha watershed ecosystems acted as a carbon sink during the period of 1975–2000, with an average rate of 0.36 Mg/ha/yr, primarily resulting from regional climate variation and local land use and land cover change. Vegetation biomass accumulation accounted for 90.6% of the sink, while soil organic carbon loss before 1992 led to a lower net gain of carbon in the watershed, and after that soils became a small sink. Ecosystem carbon sink/source patterns showed a high degree of spatial heterogeneity. Carbon sinks were associated with forest areas without disturbances, whereas carbon sources were primarily caused by stand-replacing disturbances. It is critical to adequately represent the detailed fast-changing dynamics of land use activities in regional biogeochemical models to determine the spatial and temporal evolution of regional carbon sink/source patterns.     

Photocatalytic activity of the calcined H-titanate nanowires for photocatalytic oxidation of acetone in air

Hydrogen titanate (H-titanate) nanowires were prepared via a hydrothermal reaction of TiO₂ powders (P25) in KOH solutions and then calcined at various temperatures. The phase structure, crystallite size, morphology, specific surface area, and pore structures of the calcined H-titanate nanowires at various temperatures were characterized with field emission scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms, and their photocatalytic activities were evaluated by photocatalytic oxidation of acetone in air. With increasing calcination temperature, the specific surface area and porosity of the calcined samples steadily decreased. At a calcination temperature range of 400–600 °C, the calcined H-titanate nanowires showed higher photocatalytic activity than P25 powders for photocatalytic oxidation of acetone. Especially, at 500 °C, the calcined H-titanate nanowires showed the highest photocatalytic activity, which exceeded that of P25 by a factor of about 1.8 times. This can be attributed to the synergetic effect of larger specific surface area, higher pore volume and the presence of brookite TiO₂. With further increase in the calcination temperature (700–900 °C), the photocatalytic activity of the samples decreased obviously owing to the growth of TiO₂ crystallites.     

Past desertification processes of Minqin Oasis in arid China

Irrigated farming has affected most natural oases in western China since the Han Dynasty employed advanced agricultural techniques in dryland areas. To date, little is documented about the process through which these oases were modified by human systems. In this study, a multi-disciplinary approach incorporating analysis of historical documents, archaeological field surveys, satellite imagery, and GIS data was used to understand desertification processes in the Minqin Basin in Gansu Province, China, over the historical period. Results suggest that initial reclamation efforts around the Minqin Oasis were launched in the Han Dynasty (220–121 BC) and culminated in the Wei and Jin Dynasty (220–420). During the following 800 years from the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420–581) to the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368), farmland disappeared and became desert when the region was taken over by nomadic people. The second period of intense development occurred in the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) and was followed by another more aggressive development in the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911), which resulted in the largest reclaimed area in history. Oases were constantly reclaimed and subsequently abandoned and desertified over the whole historical period. The causes were complex, but the major cause was related to dynastic transition that often resulted in changes in national policies.     

利用硫铁矿烧渣生产铁精粉的研究与探讨

针对辰溪县硫铁矿烧渣的利用现状,以硫铁矿烧渣为原料,制取铁精粉的新工艺进行探讨。通过对硫铁矿烧渣的筛选与理化处理,所得到的铁精粉其各相关指标均达到钢铁生产行业对铁精粉的质量要求。     

溶胶-凝胶工艺制备掺铅TiO_2纳米薄膜及其光催化性能的研究

通过ｓｏｌ－ｇｅｌ工艺在玻璃表面制得了均匀透明的掺铅和未掺铅ＴｉＯ２纳米薄膜；在宏观上，膜层表面光滑平整；在微观上，ＴｉＯ２薄膜由ＴｉＯ２球形颗粒组成，其颗粒大小在５０～１５０ｎｍ范围内。掺铅ＴｉＯ２镀膜玻璃在紫外光附近的透光率明显小于未掺铅ＴｉＯ２镀膜玻璃的透光率，这说明掺铅ＴｉＯ２镀膜玻璃对紫外光具有明显的吸收。敌敌畏水溶液的光摧化降解实验表明，掺铅ＴｉＯ２镀膜玻璃对有机磷农药的光解率明显高于未掺铅ＴｉＯ２镀膜玻璃的光解率。这为进一步提高ＴｉＯ２的光催化效率开辟了新的途径。