A Model for Predicting Daily Peak Visitation and Implications for Recreation Management and Water Quality: Evidence from Two Rivers in Puerto Rico

Visitor use surveys and water quality data indicates that high visitor use levels of two rivers in Puerto Rico does not appear to adversely affect several water quality parameters. Optimum visitor use to maximize visitor defined satisfaction is a more constraining limit on visitor use than water quality. Our multiple regression analysis suggests that visitor use of about 150 visitors per day yields the highest level of visitor reported satisfaction, a level that does not appear to affect turbidity of the river. This high level of visitor use may be related to the gregarious nature of Puerto Ricans and their tolerance for crowding on this densely populated island. The daily peak visitation model indicates that regulating the number of parking spaces may be the most effective way to keep visitor use within the social carrying capacity.     

Effect of clay minerals on extractability of heavy metals and sewage sludge mineralization in soil

An incubation experiment lasting 111 d was carried out to study the effect of the addition of three clay minerals (Na-bentonite, Ca-bentonite, and zeolite) to soil derived from sewage sludge on water-extractable and exchangeable forms of four heavy metals (Zn, Cd, Cu, and Ni), as well as on soil organic matter mineralization, microbial biomass C and the release of inorganic N. The addition of clay minerals led to a significant decrease in water-extractable and exchangeable forms of heavy metals. The extent of decrease ranged from 14 to 75% for the water-extractable heavy metals and from 12 to 42% for the exchangeable form over the incubation time, as compared with untreated soil. The reduction in extractability of heavy metals was greater due to the addition of Na-bentonite and Ca-bentonite than that due to the addition of zeolite. Addition of clay minerals did not affect any of the following microbiological parameters in the soil: microbial biomass C, organic C (C_org) mineralization, and metabolic quotient (qCO₂), and release of inorganic N during the first 3 weeks of incubation. However, as the incubation period increased, these parameters were significantly increased by the addition of clay minerals, especially by the addition of Na-bentonite and Ca-bentonite. This result is explained by a strong reduction in extractability of heavy metals after the addition of Na-bentonite and Ca-bentonite.     

Corporate strategy and viable future land use: planning for closure from the outset of mining

This paper provides an overview of the environmental impact of mining on viable future land use and underlines the imperative of improved environmental management and closure planning. It argues that pollution prevention, through planning for closure, can lead to cost-effective strategies for sustainable minerals development and viable future land use. This seems to be most true for greenfield sites since, generally, the earlier closure planning and pollution prevention is built into a project, the more cost-effective and environmentally benign closure will be. Further, for greenfield sites, pollution prevention techniques can be employed from the outset, at the stages of exploration and mine development, and then monitored and improved through the operation stage to closure, and can be kept in place to manage future land use.
The paper discusses how global changes in the industry, following the liberalisation of investment regimes, and mergers and strategic alliances between key firms, has, by virtue of the diffusion of new technology, led to further opportunities to prevent pollution and optimise future land use through planning for closure from the outset. The objectives and components of closure plans are also reviewed as the paper draws on case studies to highlight some of the possible constraints and challenges to pollution prevention that may be faced at the level of both public policy and corporate strategy. The article concludes by suggesting a forward-looking approach to integrated environmental management and viable future land-use planning based on a dynamic model for environmental management.     

福建漳浦砖红壤磁学特征及其环境意义

福建南部漳浦零星分布有砖红壤,是中国砖红壤分布的北界.该地区属南亚热带,纬度地带性土壤为赤红壤,而砖红壤是热带地区的纬度地带性土壤.漳浦砖红壤形成时期气候条件如何?是否可以反映气候带的变迁?这是值得深入研究的问题.基于此,通过系统的环境磁学分析,结合漫反射光谱、色度和常量地球化学元素指标,类比漳浦砖红壤和热带地区的广东徐闻现代砖红壤磁学特征的异同,探讨其环境指示意义.结果表明:(1)漳浦砖红壤中的磁性矿物以磁赤铁矿和赤铁矿为主,赤铁矿含量高于磁赤铁矿,磁赤铁矿主导剖面的磁学性质.磁性矿物颗粒以细粒的超顺磁(SP)和单畴(SD)为主;(2)与徐闻现代砖红壤相比,漳浦砖红壤中的磁性矿物具有更高Fe3+?/?Fe2+比例、赤铁矿相对含量更高、磁性矿物颗粒更粗的特点,表明漳浦砖红壤形成时期气温更高;(3)漳浦砖红壤是古土壤,其形成时期的年均气温较现今高2.5℃以上;当时华南地区热带面积范围扩大,纬度北移4°以上.本研究为全球气候变化提供了土壤学的实证.     

碳酸盐岩对Fe2+生物氧化及铁矿物合成的影响

利用从高硫煤矸石堆场浸出液中培养驯化获得的氧化亚铁硫杆菌（Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans,A.f）,通过静态实验,探讨添加不同量的碳酸盐岩对酸性硫酸盐体系中Fe²⁺生物氧化速率及次生铁矿物合成的影响.结果表明：添加10 g和30 g碳酸盐岩不会对体系中pH、氧化还原电位（ORP）和Fe²⁺生物氧化速率产生明显影响,但总铁（TFe）的去除率可从37%分别提高到55%和62%,矿物生成量也从8.17 g·L^-1分别增加到12.03 g·L^-1和13.69 g·L^-1;同时,体系中合成的次生铁矿物相与不加碳酸盐岩时无明显变化,主要为黄铁矾和施氏矿物的混合物.随着碳酸盐岩添加量增至50、70和90 g时,体系pH快速上升,Fe²⁺生物氧化速率受到抑制,并产生大量结晶程度较好的硫酸钙,形成的铁矿物主要为纤铁矿或针铁矿.而适量的碳酸盐岩添加可使体系中产生Ca²⁺和Mg²⁺,从而影响次生铁矿物的合成.因此,在以碳酸盐岩为反应介质的酸性矿山废水处理工艺设计中,可通过添加A.f菌并控制碳酸盐岩投加量,强化系统中Fe²⁺生物氧化及次生矿物的合成,从而进一步提高反应系统对TFe的去除效果.     

Remediation of preservative ethylparaben in water using natural sphalerite: Kinetics and mechanisms

As a typical class of emerging organic contaminants(EOCs), the environmental transformation and abatement of preservative parabens have raised certain environmental concerns. However, the remediation of parabens-contaminated water using natural matrixes(such as, naturally abundant minerals) is not reported extensively in literature. In this study, the transformation kinetics and the mechanism of ethylparaben using natural sphalerite(NS) were investigated. The results show that around 63% of ethy...     

污泥和鸡粪生物炭制备及其老化过程中的碳损失

生物炭具有高度的碳(C)稳定性,是一种良好的固碳材料.污泥富含无机矿物质,热解制备生物炭过程中其内源矿物会富集,影响固碳能力.在500、 600和700℃下制备市政污泥生物炭(SZB)、药厂污泥生物炭(YCB)和鸡粪生物炭(JFB),并模拟其在土壤中70～100 a老化过程,利用元素分析、傅里叶红外光谱(FTIR)、 X射线荧光光谱(XRF)、离子质谱仪(ICP)和X射线衍射(XRD)等分析手段,测定其理化性质并计算C损失.结果表明,热解过程中,生物炭内源矿物种类和质量分数决定生物炭C损失,其中Ca和Mg是主要的C保护矿物,而Fe的存在会降低生物炭C稳定性,增加C损失.老化过程中,生物炭C的自身稳定性对其C损失起主要作用,矿物起辅助作用.研究揭示了生物炭内源C和矿物组分对其C损失的影响规律,为利用污泥和鸡粪生物炭土壤固碳提供参考.     

黄土区典型小流域矿物化学风化及碳汇效应

黄土中蕴含了巨大的碳库,黄土中碳的转移对区域乃至全球碳循环具有重要影响。本文选择山西省临县一典型黄土小流域青凉寺沟流域进行调查分析,研究黄土水的化学特征及离子来源,分析黄土矿物的溶蚀过程及碳汇效应,并利用正演模型和水化学方法估算不同矿物的离子贡献比例及流域碳汇通量。结果发现,研究区黄土化学成分的含量由高到低依次为SiO_2、Al_2O_3、CaO、Fe_2O_3、MgO、K_2O、Na_2O,表现出贫SiO_2、Fe_2O_3,富CaO、MgO的特点;黄土水的pH呈中性偏碱,阴离子主要以HCO_3~-为主,阳离子以Na~+为主,水化学类型为重碳酸-钠型(HCO_3~--Na~+),水化学组成与黄土的化学组成相对应;流域内不同端元离子来源贡献计算结果表明,大气沉降、人类输入、蒸发盐矿物、硅酸盐矿物和碳酸盐矿物化学风化贡献的溶解物质分别占总溶解物质的1. 66%、6. 32%、10. 38%、62. 23%、19. 31%;黄土区长时间的水-矿物作用是硅酸盐矿物溶解贡献占主导的主要原因,阳离子置换反应、土壤-盐分浸出与蒸发以及人类输入对硅酸盐矿物溶解也有一定的贡献;受黄土区相对低温少雨的影响,黄土矿物的平均化学风化速率较低,为9. 31 t/(km~2·a),低于全球岩石的化学风化速率平均值36 t/(km~2·a),但是其消耗大气CO_2的速率较高,约为6. 34 t CO_2/(km2·a),明显高于同纬度三川河岩溶流域的碳汇速率(5. 28 t CO_2/(km~2·a));利用水化学径流法计算的青凉寺沟黄土小流域的矿物化学风化的大气CO_2消耗量为0. 18×10~4t/a,为中国黄土区大气CO_2消耗量的估算提供基础数据。     

Changes in peak flow with decreased forestry practices: analysis using watershed runoff data

The prevalence of forestry practices such as thinning and pruning have gradually decreased since the 1980s. Researchers have noted an increased flood risk with decreased forestry practices for coniferous plantations in Japan on the basis of infiltration and overland flow measurements at a plot scale (typically several square meters). However, no studies have examined changes in peak flow with decreased forestry practices at a watershed scale (typically several tens or hundreds of square kilometers) even though flood disasters generally occur at this scale in Japan. We examined changes in frequency distributions of daily precipitation (P) and runoff (Q) during the period 1979-2007 at the Terauchi watershed, where forestry practices are known to have decreased. For this purpose, we divided P and Q data into 14 and 15 classes according to the magnitude, respectively, and examined changes in the frequency for each class during the period. We observed no significant increasing trend for any P or Q class. Even when taking into account the effect of interannual variations in precipitation on the frequency for each Q class, there was no significant increasing trend in the frequencies except for two Q classes with moderate Q values. These results suggest that the increase in flood risk due to decreased forestry practices might be less than expected.     

Experimental study on gas explosion and venting process in interconnected vessels

A pilot scale interconnected vessels experiment system was established, and the closed and vented gas explosion characteristics in the system were studied, using 10% methane–air mixture. Regularity of pressure variation in vessels and flame propagation in linked pipes was analyzed. Furthermore, the effects of transmission style, ignition position, pipe length, and initial pressure on explosion severity were discussed. For the closed explosion: explosion in interconnected vessels presents strongly destructive power to secondary vessel, especially transmission from the big vessel to the small one; the worst ignition position is shifting from ignition in the interconnected pipe to the walls of the two vessels; as far as ignition in big vessel is concerned, the peak pressure in secondary vessel increases with the pipe length much faster than that for ignition in small vessel; the peak pressures in two vessels are approximate linear functions of initial pressure. For the vented explosion: the transmission style and interconnected pipe length have significant impacts on the effect of venting on the protection; in order to obtain the better venting effect, the use of a divergent interconnected pipe from the big vessel to the small one in industry is advised and it is necessary to reduce the interconnected pipe length as far as possible or install flame arrester in the interconnected pipe.