Earthquake-related chemical and radioactivity changes of thermal water in Kuzuluk-Adapazan,Turkey

The movements of the North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ) caused two devastating earthquakes within an 87-day interval, epicentered on G?lcük-Izmit (17 August, 1999) and Düzce-Bolu (12 November, 1999). The Kuzuluk geothermal area (KGA) is located in the middle of the epicenters and the distance between the geothermal area and the fault zone is less than 5 km. Hot water samples were collected from two thermal boreholes that supply hot water to the Kuzuluk thermal complex. The water samples taken prior to and after earthquakes were analysed by Neutron Activation and Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy. Particularly, increase in total a and total beta activities, in the content of Pb, Cr, Ni, Cu and decrease in the content of Fe, Zn, Cd, Mn, and Co are significant. The highest values are 75, 35, 12 and 65 ppb for Pb, Cr, Ni and Cu, respectively. The lowest values are 45, 55, 15, 135 and 6 ppb for Fe, Zn, Cd, Mn and Co, respectively.     

Arsenic adsorption from aqueous solutions by activated red mud

Heat treatment and acid treatment methods have been tested on red mud to increase its arsenic adsorption capability. The results indicate that the adsorptive capacity of red mud can be increased by acid treatment. This treatment causes sodalite compounds to leach out. As(III) and As(V) adsorption characteristics of activated red mud have similar tendencies with raw red mud. Batch adsorption studies have shown that activated red mud in dosages ranging from 20 to 100 g l(-1) can be used effectively to remove arsenic from aqueous solutions. The process is pH dependent, the optimum range being 5.8-7.5 for As(III) and 1.8-3.5 for As(V). The maximum removals are 96.52% for As(V) and 87.54% for As(III) for solutions with a final pH of 7.25 and 3.50, respectively, for the initial arsenic concentration of 133.5 micromol l(-1) (10 mg l(-1)), activated red mud dosage of 20 g l(-1), contact time of 60 min and temperature of 25 degrees C. The adsorption data obtained follow a first-order rate expression and fit the Langmuir isotherm well. Isotherms have been used to obtain the thermodynamic parameters. It was found that the adsorption of As(III) was exothermic, whereas As(V) adsorption was endothermic.     

Bioaccumulation of cesium-137 by biota in different aquatic environments

Macroalgae, isopods and fish species were exposed to 137Cs in brackish and sea water conditions for 18 days to determine radionuclide concentration factors. The concentration factors of 137Cs in brown shrimp and polychaete species were also investigated under brackish water conditions. At equilibrium, the concentration factors in macroalgae, isopod, fish, brown shrimp and polychate samples were found to be 2.5, 33, 2, 16 and 11 at 16 degrees C in brackish water conditions, respectively. The accumulation rate in macroalgae species was influenced by temperatures between 6 degrees C and 16 degrees C. The bioaccumulation of 137Cs in isopods at low salinity regime was increased significantly. At the same time, the bioaccumulation rate in macroalgae species also showed slight increase at low salinity. On the other hand, the bioaccumulation rate of 137Cs in the fish species in sea water was higher than in brackish water.     

Biomonitoring of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in urban and industrial environments of the Western Black Sea Region,Turkey

This research was carried out in the cities of Zonguldak and Eregli, which have been characterized as urban and industrial environments of the Western Black Sea Region, Turkey, in order to assess the contamination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) using mosses as biomonitors. The methodology involved the collection of moss samples (Hypnum cupressiforme), ultrasonic extraction with dichloromethane, cleanup using silica gel and analysis by liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection. The total PAH concentrations ranged from 78.1 to 1693.5 ng g^?1 in Zonguldak and from 15.2 to 275.1 ng g^?1 in Eregli. The total PAH concentration in Eregli was about six times lower than that in Zonguldak, revealing the importance of switching from coal to natural gas in residential heating. The diagnostic ratios and the correlation analysis have indicated that coal combustion and traffic emissions were the major PAH sources at both sites. The contour maps were constructed for the determination of spatial distributions of total PAHs, and it was shown for Zonguldak as well as for Eregli that the PAH pollution was much more predominant in highly populated regions. Moving away from the city centres, a gradual decrease in PAH pollution rates was observed.     

Development of adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system model for predict trihalomethane formation potential in distribution network simulation test

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Trihalomethanes (THMs), which is one of the major classes of DBP known to be highly cytotoxic and genotoxic, were formed and modeled under controlled...     

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...     

Using of leaching reactant obtained from mill scale in hydrometallurgical copper extraction

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This study, which covered a set of leaching processes at a few stages, investigated the inclusion of iron found in mill scale, which is a waste of the...     

Buying price of event information in two-action decision problems

Being able to determine in advance whether certain events occur or not enables a decision maker to reduce the uncertainty of a two-action lottery, although the exact outcome of the lottery may still not be known with certainty. This paper studies the á priori value of information in such a decision making environment. Of interest to the decision maker is to compare the value of information about different events in advance of gathering the information. Using buying price as value of information, we show that when information about the occurrence of two different events are offered to a risk neutral decision maker, the event with a greater contribution in absolute value to the expected value of the lottery has higher value in terms of its buying price. For risk averse decision makers, a preference condition needs to be imposed on the set difference of two events to obtain a generic conclusion. We provide several examples that demonstrate the usefulness of these results.     

Exploring Land Developer Perspectives on Conservation Subdivision Design and Environmentally Sustainable Land Development

Insight into land developers’ perspectives on alternative residential developments and the barriers they experience in trying to develop them can be crucial in efforts to change environmentally damaging low-density, large-lot, and automobile-dependent residential patterns. Using a semi-structured interview instrument followed by short surveys, I examined the views of 16 developers in Waukesha County, WI, USA, a county that has experienced significant development pressures and widespread implementation of conservation subdivision design. The land developer investigation focused on conservation subdivision design familiarity and implementation, and identified a number of barriers that developers experienced in implementing the design. While the majority of the developers appeared familiar with the design and had experience developing conservation subdivisions, their motivations for developing them varied, as did their on-site conservation practices. The barriers included the lack of land use regulations supporting the design, economic factors, community opposition, and a lack of knowledge about sustainable residential development practices. Strategies to promote more environmentally sustainable residential land development patterns include providing a more supportive institutional environment, enacting different regulations and guidelines for natural resources protection, and offering education on ecologically sound development and planning practices.