Environmental monitoring of radon in soil during a very seismically active period occurred in South West Greece

This paper focuses on the environmental monitoring of radon in soil as a potential trace gas in the search of earthquake precursors. The paper reports the following: (a) Pre-monitoring experiments. (b) Set-up of methods and devices. (c) Active and passive monitoring results concentrating on two extremely-strong radon anomalies (~ 500 kBq m(-3)). (e) Discussion regarding the employed ± 2σ technique for identifying radon disturbances. (f) Application of wavelet-power-spectrum fractal analysis for detecting power-law behaviour. The strong anomalies exhibited anti-persistent power-law-beta-values (b = (1.8 ± 0.2), b = (1.8 ± 0.3)) significantly higher than those of the baseline. Persistent b-values were also detected. The findings comply with a self-organised-critical pre-earthquake state. (h) Discussion on models that interpret the radon anomalies focusing on the recently-proposed asperity-model. (i) Application of a recent technique which showed that the two strong disturbances were proportional to the strain change. It was concluded that the strong radon disturbances may be linked to the strong earthquake of 8/6/2008, M = 6.5, occurred 29 km away from the installed instrumentation.     

Total and available heavy metal concentrations in soils of the Thriassio plain (Greece) and assessment of soil pollution indexes

The Thriassio plain is located 25 km west of Athens city, the capital of Greece. Two major towns (Elefsina and Aspropyrgos), heavy industry plants, medium to large-scale manufacturing, logistics plants, and agriculture comprise the main land uses of the studied area. The aim of the present study was to measure the total and available concentrations of Cr, Zn, Ni, Pb, Co, Mn, Ba, Cu, and Fe in the top soils of the plain, and to asses soil contamination by these metals by using the geoaccumulation index (I _geo), the enrichment factor (EF), and the availability ratio (AR) as soil pollution indexes. Soil samples were collected from 90 sampling sites, and aqua regia and DTPA extractions were carried out to determine total and available metal forms, respectively. Median total Cr, Zn, Ni, Pb, Co, Mn, Ba, Cu, and Fe concentrations were 78, 155, 81, 112, 24, 321, 834, 38, and 16?×?10³ mg?kg^?1, respectively. The available fractions showed much lower values with medians of 0.4, 5.6, 1.7, 6.9, 0.8, 5.7, 19.8, 2.1, and 2.9 mg?kg^?1. Though median total metal concentrations are not considered as particularly high, the I _geo and the EF values indicate moderate to heavy soil enrichment. For certain metals such as Cr, Ni, Cu, and Ba, the different distribution patterns between the EFs and the ARs suggest different origin of the total and the available metal forms. The evaluation of the EF and AR data sets for the soils of the two towns further supports the argument that the EFs can well demonstrate the long-term history of soil pollution and that the ARs can adequately portray the recent history of soil pollution.     

Embedded value systems in sustainability assessment tools and their implications

This paper explores the implications that arise with the selection of specific sustainability evaluation tools. Sustainability evaluation tools are conceptualized in this paper as value articulating institutions and as such their choice is a far from a trivial matter. In fact their choice can entail various ethical and practical repercussions. However, in most cases the choice of the evaluation tool is made by the analyst(s) without taking into consideration the values of the affected stakeholders. By choosing the analytical tool the analyst essentially “subscribes to” and ultimately “enforces” a particular worldview as the legitimate yardstick to evaluate the sustainability of a particular project (or policy). Instead, this paper argues that the selection of evaluation tools should be consistent with the values of the affected stakeholders. With this in mind, different sustainability evaluation tools’ assumptions are critically reviewed and a number of suggestions that could facilitate the choice of the most appropriate tool according to the context of the sustainability evaluation are provided. It is expected that conscious evaluation tool selection, following the suggestions made in this paper, will reduce the risk of providing distorted sustainability evaluations.     

Sequestration of heavy metals from soil with Fe–Mn concretions and nodules

In recent years, heavy metal contamination has become a major environmental issue in many parts of the world. Fe and Mn oxides, oxyhydroxides and hydroxides have long been recognized as scavengers playing an important role in controlling the location, mobility and bioavailability of metal contaminants in soils. Fe–Mn concretions and nodules are discrete bodies made of soil or sediment materials cemented together under the influence of Fe and Mn oxides. Here metals sorption by Fe–Mn concretions and nodules are surveyed and critical reviewed. Valuable available literature data demonstrate that the formation of Fe–Mn concretions and nodules is the most efficient and durable process for metal contaminants sequestration in the soils. The papers discussed in this review show that the application of Fe–Mn concretions and nodules, as geochemical scavengers for remediating metal contaminated soils, is strongly recommended.     

Land use and cover change in Japan and Tokyo’s appetite for meat

Urban consumption of ecosystems services such as food generates environmental impacts at different geographical scales. In the last few decades Tokyoites have shown an increasing appetite for meat. This study examines the environmental implications of Tokyo’s increasing meat consumption by analyzing how this trend has affected land use and cover change in areas near and far away. Historical databases (1970–2005) are employed in order to explore meat consumption patterns in Tokyo and to relate it with beef and pork production in areas within the country and abroad. It also integrates the historical analysis of production and consumption patterns with a discussion of the drivers (e.g., wealth, price, policies and seafood availability) behind these trends. We identified that meat production in Japan followed three distinct phases between 1877 and 2005. In the first period it took 50 years for production to increase by 50%, while during the next phase production showed the same growth in just half the time. Major changes in land use/cover change because of domestic meat production occurred mainly during the second phase and, thereafter, when domestic production declined and was substituted to a great extent by imports. Despite the increasing consumption of imported meat, Tokyo relies greatly on domestic meat produced in its neighboring prefectures. The paper concludes that regional planning can be used as an effective instrument to protect the environment and secure protein for the population of mega-urban areas such as Tokyo.     

Microscopic structure of soil Fe-Mn nodules: environmental implication

The internal structure, iron and manganese distributions of Fe-Mn nodules from imperfectly drained soils of central Greece were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and elemental analysis. Nodules exhibited a differentiated structure with discontinuous concentric rings as expression of their redox history. Fe and Mn have shown distinct repartition and were distributed mainly in concentric bands. The microstructure and the arrangement of iron—manganese compounds reflect the periodical development and the relative slow accretion rates of the studied nodules. These properties provide ample opportunity for adsorption and isolation of heavy metals from the soil system.     

An application of data mining tools for the study of shipping safety in restricted waters

The effectiveness of the enforcement of the ISM-Code and the examination of its role in the distribution of causes of shipping accidents between human and non-human error was studied. All accidents involving Greek-flagged ships from 1995 to 2006, a time-scale which spans over the pre- and post-ISM period in navigational regions of restricted waters, were analyzed.The accident data was processed through a classification tree analysis which enabled the classification of various accident factors. The analysis revealed that although the human error maintained its position as the dominant factor in shipping accidents, there is also substantial evidence in support of the ISM-Code effective control over shipping accidents during the post-ISM period. The implementation of the ISM-Code led to an overall reduction of human-induced accidents in total. Furthermore, in terms of location, the ISM-Code improved the human-induced accident record within restricted waters.Conclusively, the ISM-Code constitutes an effective policy measure for shipping safety. The results of the classification tree analysis reported in the present work can be used by decision makers in companies and international organizations to build knowledge-based expert systems and augment their information in the field of safety policy and management.     

Household waste generation,composition and determining factors in rapidly urbanizing developing cities: case study of Santa Cruz de la Sierra,Bolivia

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - Detailed information about waste generation rates, composition, and their influencing factors, is essential for sustainable municipal solid waste...