Spatiotemporal evolution of soil pH and zinc after the Aznalcollar mine spill

The residual pollution after the Aznalcóllar (southwestern Spain) pyrite mine spill is still a threat due to the continuing oxidation of sulfuric minerals. The objective of this paper was to analyze the combined effect of pyrite oxidation, sugar beet foam applications, and meteorological conditions on the spatiotemporal evolution of the pH and EDTA-extractable Zn concentration, using non co-located data from 11 sampling dates between June 1999 and March 2002. Median pH values ranged from 4.4 at the beginning of the monitoring period to 7.6 at the end, although values near 2.5 were observed throughout the entire period, despite of two sugar beet foam (SBF) applications. Zinc distributions were positively skewed and median concentrations ranged from 17 to 94 mg kg(-1). The inverse relationship between pH and Zn became weaker toward the end of the monitoring period as a consequence of the precipitation and posterior dissolution of newly formed minerals from the reaction products of the pyrite oxidation. Normal score maps showed that after the SBF applications only 0.5% of the monitored area was below the pH = 4 threshold, while on other dates up to one-third of the area remained below this value. The better performance of the second SBF application could be explained in terms of pyrite oxidation pathways and environmental conditions. From this analysis, with data obtained under uncontrolled field conditions, it is concluded that SBF should be applied before or during the wet and cold season to alleviate acidification, caused by the oxidation of pyrite or other sulfuric minerals.     

造纸中段废水与生活污水合并深度处理工艺

采用水解酸化 CAST 混凝 复合滤池与水解酸化 接触氧化 混凝 复合滤池2种组合工艺对造纸中段废水与生活污水进行合并处理对照试验.结果表明,两种工艺都是切实可行的,二级出水均可达到<污水综合排放标准>(GB8978-1996)二级标准,深度处理出水可达中水水质要求.其中以水解酸化 CAST 混凝 复合滤池组合工艺效果最好.     

El Niño platforms: participatory disaster response in Peru

Climate change is expected to lead to greater extremes (droughts and floods) in river regimes around the world. While the number of major calamities is predicted to rise, the efforts of the public sector, experts and local stakeholders are badly coordinated. Consequently, aid does not reach target groups, resulting in unnecessary losses. Hence, there is a need for more participatory and integrative approaches. To ensure a more concerted response to climate-induced disasters, stakeholders could coordinate and negotiate within Multi-Stakeholder Platforms. Such roundtables are increasingly being established for vision-building and integrated water resource management, but could be employed in disaster management as well. After discussing the advantages and disadvantages of participation, this article trace the rise of and the problems facing two 'El Ni?o' platforms: one in Ica, a city on the Peruvian coast that flooded unexpectedly in January 1998, and one in Ayacucho, which saw a climate change-induced drought around the same time. The issue of internal and external legitimacy receives particular emphasis.     

The dynamic changes of arsenic biotransformation and bioaccumulation in muscle of freshwater food fish crucian carp during chronic dietborne exposure

Dietary uptake is the major way that inorganic arsenic (iAs) enters into benthic fish; however, the metabolic process of dietborne iAs in fish muscle following chronic exposure remains unclear. This was a 40-day study on chronic dietborne iAs [arsenite (AsIII) and arsenate (AsV)] exposure in the benthic freshwater food fish, the crucian carp (Carassius auratus), which determined the temporal profiles of iAs metabolism and toxicokinetics during exposure. We found that an adaptive response occurred in the fish body after iAs dietary exposure, which was associated with decreased As accumulation and increased As transformation into a non-toxic As form (arsenobetaine). The bioavailability of dietary AsIII was lower than that of AsV, probably because AsIII has a lower ability to pass through fish tissues. Dietary AsV exhibited a high potential for transformation into AsIII species, which then accumulated in fish muscle. The largely produced AsIII considered more toxic at the earlier stage of AsV exposure should attract sufficient attention to human exposure assessment. Therefore, the pristine As species and exposure duration had significant effects on As bioaccumulation and biotransformation in fish. The behavior determined for dietborne arsenic in food fish is crucial for not only arsenic ecotoxicology but also food safety.     

Eulerian and Lagrangian time scales of the turbulence above staggered arrays of cubical obstacles

Environmental Fluid Mechanics - We present results from water-channel experiments on neutrally-stable turbulent flows over staggered arrays of cubical obstacles modelling idealised urban canopies....     

建筑安全风险因素分级排序的风险矩阵法

为减少风险分级排序时产生的风险结,在引入施工安全事故频率的基础上,采用单元格细化和Borda序值法改进原有的风险矩阵法。改进后的方法使得风险等级数量增加,风险结数量减少。将该方法应用于脚手架工程的风险因素的分级与排序,风险等级分为6级,且实现了12个因素的明确排序。     

考虑岩石抗拉强度受围压影响的地层破裂压模型

预测地层破裂压力是地下流体注入工程中的关键问题,关系到工程的稳定性和安全性。根据地测资料,岩石的抗拉强度会随着围压产生变化,然而目前常见的地层破裂压预测模型均未考虑该因素。基于厚壁圆筒法,针对2种砂岩开展不同围压条件下的砂岩致裂试验,根据试验数据,计算各组试验中试样的抗拉强度,并拟合围压与岩石抗拉强度的关系函数。研究岩石抗拉强度随围压变化的规律,提出能在实际地层中表征该规律的参数,基于该参数对现有的地层破裂压模型进行修正,并结合实测数据验证修正模型的可靠性。研究结果表明:岩石的抗拉强度随着围压的增加呈现明显的线性正相关关系,低围压下,新模型的预测结果与实测数据较为接近。随着围压增加,二者的差异逐渐增大,说明选取的特征参数在低围压下能较好地描述抗拉强度受围压的影响效应,而高围压下参数的取值需进一步研究。     

Circumpolar status of Arctic ptarmigan: Population dynamics and trends

Rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) and willow ptarmigan (L. lagopus) are Arctic birds with a circumpolar distribution but there is limited knowledge about their status and trends across their circumpolar distribution. Here, we compiled information from 90 ptarmigan study sites from 7 Arctic countries, where almost half of the sites are still monitored. Rock ptarmigan showed an overall negative trend on Iceland and Greenland, while Svalbard and Newfoundland had positive trends, and no significant trends in Alaska. For willow ptarmigan, there was a negative trend in mid-Sweden and eastern Russia, while northern Fennoscandia, North America and Newfoundland had no significant trends. Both species displayed some periods with population cycles (short 3–6 years and long 9–12 years), but cyclicity changed through time for both species. We propose that simple, cost-efficient systematic surveys that capture the main feature of ptarmigan population dynamics can form the basis for citizen science efforts in order to fill knowledge gaps for the many regions that lack systematic ptarmigan monitoring programs.

     

Benefits of applying X-ray computed tomography in bentonite based material research focussed on geological disposal of radioactive waste

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Bentonite-based geomaterials are included in the designs of geological repository planning in most countries, especially in high-level radioactive...