Carbon dioxide sequestration of iron ore mining waste under low-reaction condition of a direct mineral carbonation process

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Mining waste that is rich in iron-, calcium- and magnesium-bearing minerals can be a potential feedstock for sequestering CO2 by mineral carbonation....     

Assessment of the Water Quality of Troia for the Multipurpose Usages

The aim of this study was to determine the origin and quality of waters in Troia. For this purpose total of 25 water samples including 2 springs, 14 surfaces and 9 groundwaters, were collected at eight different times. Global positioning system (GPS) was used to determine to coordinates of sampling points. The concentration of 6 minor elements (B, Cu, F, Fe, Pb and Zn), 9 major anions and cations (Na(+), Ca(2+), K(+), Mg(2+), SO(4)(2-), PO(4)(3-), HCO(3)(-), Cl(-) and, CO(3)(2-)) were determined by spectrometric, colorimetric and volumetric methods. Water pH, EC, DO, ORP and TDS were measured in situ using probes. The data showed that the concentrations of most of minor elements were below the EPA and TSE limits except Pb which ranged between 0.001 and 4.832 mg L(-1). Statistically significant relationships (P<0.01 and r>0.70) were observed between Fe and Cu, Cu and K(+), Cu and Ca(2+), B and Na(+), Na(+) and K(+). Assessing the water based on irrigation using Wilcox model showed that some well waters were not suitable for irrigation. Troia water was found to be highly corrosive and the average corrosion coefficients varied from 0.5 to 4.6. According to the Piper and Schoeller diagrams results, the water in Troia was classified as mixed water type.     

Spatial distribution and source identification of trace elements in topsoil from heavily industrialized region,Aliaga, Turkey

Topsoil samples (n?=?40) were collected from a heavily industrialized region in Turkey. The region includes several scrap processing iron–steel plants with electric arc furnaces (EAFs), a petroleum refinery, a petrochemical complex, steel rolling mills, a natural gas-fired power plant, ship-breaking yards and very dense transportation activities. The region has undergone a rapid transition from an agricultural region to a heavily industrialized region in the last three decades. Collected soil samples were analyzed for 48 trace elements using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The elemental distribution pattern in the region indicated that Nemrut area with dense iron–steel production activities was a hotspot for elemental pollution. In addition to crustal elements, concentrations of anthropogenic trace elements (i.e., Fe, Zn, Pb, Mn, Cu, Cd, Cr and Mo) were very high in the area influencing many parts of the region. Elemental compositions of fugitive sources polluting the soil (i.e., paved and unpaved roads, slag piles, EAFs filter dust piles and coal piles) were also determined. The methods (enrichment factors [EFs] and the index of geoaccumulation [I _geo]) used for determination of pollution status of soil showed that Cr, Ag, Zn, As and Pb were the strongly contaminating elements for the region. Principal component analysis (PCA) clearly indicated that anthropogenic sources (steel production, refinery and petrochemical processes and traffic) were important sources in this region.     

Assessment of ozone variations and meteorological influences in a tourist and health resort area on the island of Mali Lošinj (Croatia)

The purpose of this study was to investigate ozone, variations, and its correlation with meteorological parameters at a remote location on the Mali Lo?inj Island, which has been a tourist and health resort area in the northern Adriatic. The measured data are discussed in relation to the EU guidelines (Directive 2002/3/EC; Directive 2008/50/EC). In order to characterize ambient air with respect to ozone vegetation injury and photochemical pollution, we calculated accumulated dose over a threshold of 40 parts per billion index and two photochemical pollution indicators. The influence of local meteorological parameters on the measured ozone volume fractions was also investigated. We used the multivariate technique principal component analysis to trace correlations between measured ozone concentration and meteorological parameters.     

Brassinosteroids protect photosynthetic machinery against the cadmium induced oxidative stress in two tomato cultivars

The present study was conducted with an aim to gain better insight of brassinosteroid generated response on the effects of cadmium on photosynthetic machinery and active oxygen metabolism in two tomato cultivars (K-25 and Sarvodya). These tomato cultivars were subjected to graded cadmium levels in soil (0, 3, 6, 9 or 12 mg kg⁻¹ soil) with their foliage being sprayed with 0 or 10⁻⁸ M of 28-homobrassinolide/24-epibrassinolide (HBL/EBL) at 59 d stage. The results suggested that photosynthetic parameters, leaf water potential and activity of several enzymes (nitrate reductase and carbonic anhydrase) decreased significantly in both the cultivars, to a lesser extent in K-25 than Sarvodya with the increasing levels of cadmium in the soil. However, the activity of antioxidant enzymes and proline content increased in response to metal treatment as well as the application of brassinosteroids (HBL/EBL). Overall, exogenous application of brassinosteroids improved the activity of photosynthetic machinery and that of antioxidant defense system in both the cultivars, and also nullified the damaging effect of metal on these parameters.     

Testing the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis: the role of energy consumption and democratic accountability

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Considering the role democratic structures play in shaping the policies that enhance environmental quality, this paper tests the environmental Kuznets...     

Environmental analysis of Turkey’s aggregated and sector-level CO2 emissions

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Turkey’s ecological footprint has recently been increasing, while its biocapacity has been decreasing. Furthermore, the country’s CO2...     

Studies on seed germination and growth in weed species of rice field under salinity stress

An investigation was made to see the salt tolerance of 10 weed species of rice. Properly dried and treated seeds of weed species were placed on 9 cm diameter petridishes lined with Whatman No. 1 filter paper under 6 salinity regimes, viz. 0 (control), 4, 8, 16, 24 and 32 dS m(-1). The petri dishes were then kept in germinator at 25 +/- 1.0 degrees C and 12 hr light. The number of germinated seeds were recorded daily. The final germination percentage, germination index (GI), seedling vigour index, mean germination time and time for 50% germination were estimated. Root and shoot lengths of the weed seedlings were measured at 20 days after salt application and relative growth values were calculated. Results revealed that salinity decreased final germination percentage, seed of germination as measured by GI, and shoot and root length in all the species. Germination of most of the weed seeds was completely arrested (0) at 32 dS m(-1) salinity except in E. colona (12%) and C. iria (13.9%). The species C. iria, E. colona, J. linifolia and E. crusgalli showed better germination (above 30%) upto 24 dS m(-1) salinity level and were regarded as salt-tolerant weed species. J. linifolia, F. miliacea, L. chinensis and O. sativa L. (weedy rice) were graded as moderately tolerant and S. zeylanica, S. grosus and C. difformis were regarded as least tolerant weed species.     

Prediction of total bed material load for rivers in Malaysia: A case study of Langat,Muda and Kurau Rivers

A soft computational technique is applied to predict sediment loads in three Malaysian rivers. The feed forward-back propagated (schemes) artificial neural network (ANNs) architecture is employed without any restriction to an extensive database compiled from measurements in Langat, Muda, Kurau different rivers. The ANN method demonstrated a superior performance compared to other traditional sediment-load methods. The coefficient of determination, 0.958 and the mean square error 0.0698 of the ANN method are higher than those of the traditional method. The performance of the ANN method demonstrates its predictive capability and the possibility of generalization of the modeling to nonlinear problems for river engineering applications.