Role of Chinese wind-blown dust in enhancing environmental pollution in Metropolitan Seoul

A suite of rock magnetic experiments and intensive microscopic observations were carried out on Asian dust deposits in Seoul, Korea, collected on 19 and 23 March 2002, 9 April 2002 and 12 April 2003. Desert-sand and loess from the dust source regions in China were also analyzed as a comparison. Asian dust showed a higher magnetic concentration than the source region samples, indicating a significant influx of magnetic particles into Asian dust had occurred during its transportation. Electron microscopy identified carbon-bearing iron-oxides as the added material. These iron-oxides were likely to have been produced by anthropogenic pollution (fossil fuel combustion) while the wind-blown dusts passing across the industrial areas of eastern China and western Korea. Such wind-paths were confirmed by a simulation of the air-mass trajectories. The magnetic technique appears to be useful for determining the anthropogenic pollution of Asian dust.     

Export of nitrogen from catchments: a worldwide analysis

This study reviews nitrogen export rates from 946 rivers of the world to determine the influence of quantitative (runoff, rainfall, inhabitant density, catchment area, percentage of land use cover, airborne deposition, fertilizer input) and qualitative (dominant type of forest, occurrence of stagnant waterbodies, dominant land use, occurrence of point sources, runoff type) environmental factors on nitrogen fluxes. All fractions (total, nitrate, ammonia, dissolved organic and particulate organic) of nitrogen export showed a left-skewed distribution, which suggests a relatively pristine condition for most systems. Total nitrogen export showed the highest variability whereas total organic nitrogen export comprised the dominant fraction of export. Nitrogen export rates were only weakly explained by our qualitative and quantitative environmental variables. Our study suggests that the consideration of spatial and temporal scales is important for predicting nitrogen export rates using simple and easy-to-get environmental variables. Regionally based modelling approaches prove more useful than global-scale analyses.     

The Effect of Channelization on Floodplain Sediment Deposition and Subsidence Along the Pocomoke River,Maryland1

Kroes, Daniel E. and Cliff R. Hupp, 2010. The Effect of Channelization on Floodplain Sediment Deposition and Subsidence Along the Pocomoke River, Maryland. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(4): 686-699. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00440.x Abstract: The nontidal Pocomoke River was intensively ditched and channelized by the mid-1900s. In response to channelization; channel incision, head-cut erosion, and spoil bank perforation have occurred in this previously nonalluvial system. Six sites were selected for study of floodplain sediment dynamics in relation to channel condition. Short- and long-term sediment deposition/subsidence rates and composition were determined. Short-term rates (four years) ranged from 0.6 to 3.6 mm/year. Long-term rates (15-100+ years) ranged from −11.9 to 1.7 mm/year. ¹³⁷Cs rates (43 years) indicate rates of 0.24 to 7.4 mm/year depending on channel condition. Channelization has limited contact between streamflow and the floodplain, resulting in little or no sediment retention in channelized reaches. Along unchannelized reaches, extended contact and depth of river water on the floodplain resulted in high deposition rates. Drainage of floodplains exposed organic sediments to oxygen resulting in subsidence and releasing stored carbon. Channelization increased sediment deposition in downstream reaches relative to the presettlement system. The sediment storage function of this river has been dramatically altered by channelization. Results indicate that perforation of spoil banks along channelized reaches may help to alleviate some of these issues.     

Fine‐Sediment Loadings to Lake Tahoe1

Abstract: Over the past 35 years, a trend of decreasing water clarity has been documented in Lake Tahoe, attributable in part to the delivery of fine‐grained sediments emanating from upland and channel sources. The overall objective of the research reported here was to determine the amount of fine sediment delivered to Lake Tahoe from each of the 63 contributing watersheds. The research described in this report used combinations of field‐based observations of channel and bank stability with measured and simulated data on fine‐sediment loadings to estimate fine‐sediment loadings from unmonitored basins throughout the Lake Tahoe Basin. Loadings were expressed in the conventional format of mass per unit time but also in the number of particles finer than 20 μm, the latter for future use in a lake‐clarity model. The greatest contributors of fine sediment happened to be those with measured data, not requiring extrapolation. In descending order, they are as follows: Upper Truckee River [1,010 tonnes per year (T/year)], Blackwood Creek (846 T/year), Trout Creek (462 T/year), and Ward Creek (412 T/year). Summing estimated values from the contributing watersheds provided an average, annual estimate of fine‐sediment (<0.063 mm) loadings to the lake of 5,206 T/year. A total of 7.79E + 19 particles in the 5‐20 μm fraction were calculated to enter Lake Tahoe in an average year with the Upper Truckee River accounting for almost 25% of the total. Contributions from Blackwood, Ward, Trout, and Third creeks account for another 23% of these very fine particles. Thus, these five streams making up about 40% of the basin area, account for almost 50% of all fine‐sediment loadings to the lake. Contribution of fine sediment from streambank erosion were estimated by developing empirical relations between measured or simulated bank‐erosion rates with a field‐based measure of the extent of bank instability along given streams. An average, annual fine‐sediment loading from streambank erosion of 1,305 T/year was calculated. This represents about 25% of the average, annual fine‐sediment load delivered to the lake from all sources. The two largest contributors, the Upper Truckee River (639 T/year) and Blackwood Creek (431 T/year), account for slightly more than 80% of all fines emanating from streambanks, representing about 20% of the fine sediment delivered to Lake Tahoe from all sources. Extrapolations of fine‐sediment loadings to the unmonitored watersheds are based on documented empirical relations, yet contain a significant amount of uncertainty. Except for those values derived directly from measured data, reported results should be considered as estimates.     

Mercury in air in an area impacted by strong industrial activities

The concentrations of total gaseous mercury (TGM) and its relevant environmental parameters were measured at a highly industrialized area in the Ban Wall industrial complex (BWIC) in An San city, Korea from March to May 2005. The mean concentrations of Hg measured during the entire study period were computed to be 6.32 ± 8.56 ng m⁻³ (range of 2.32–181 ng m⁻³; N = 1160). Due to the effects of strong man-made activities, the significantly high Hg concentration levels (e.g., at or above 10 ng m⁻³) comprised about 7.5% of all data with the mean of 21.8 ± 26.3 ng m⁻³ (N = 87). By separating the data into daytime and nighttime periods, the Hg values exhibited a notable daytime enhancement possibly due to strong man-made activities during working hours. The results of the correlation analysis indicated the possible relationship between the Hg concentration and the temperature as well as several pollutant species (e.g., NO₂ and NO_x). Evaluation of the Hg data in relation with the air mass transport pattern confirms that the Hg concentration levels in this industrial area are affected most eminently by local, rather than distant, pollution sources.     

Preparations of TiO2 film coated on foam nickel substrate by sol-gel processes and its photocatalytic activity for degradation of acetaldehyde

Anatase TiO2 films were successfully prepared on foam nickel substrates by sol-gel technique using tetrabutyl titanate as precursor. The characteristics of the TiO2 films were investigated by XPS, XRD, FE-SEM, TEM and UV-Vis absorption spectra. The photocatalytic activities of TiO2 films were investigated by photocatalytic degradation reactions of gaseous acetaldehyde, an indoor pollutant, under ultraviolet light irradiation. It was found that Ni^2＋ doping into TiO2 films due to the foam nickel substrates resulted in the extension of absorption edges of TiO2 films from UV region to visible light region. The pre-heating for foam nickel substrates resulted in the formation of NiO layer, which prevented effectively the injection of photogenerated electrons from TiO2 films to metal nickel. The TiO2 films displayed high photocatalytic activity for the degradation of acetaldehyde, and were enhanced by calcining the substrates and coating TiO2 films repeatedly. The high activity was mainly attributed to the improvement of the characteristics of substrate surface and the increase of active sites on photocatalyst.     

Determination of haloacetic acids concentrations in hospital effluent after chlorination by ion chromatography

The ion chromatography combined solid phase extraction (SPE) method was developed for the analysis of low concentration haloacetic acids(HAAs),a calss of disinfection by-products formed as a result of chlorination of hospital wastewater. The monitored HAAs included monochloroacetic acid, monobromoacetic acid, dichloroacetic acid, dibromoacetic acid and trichloroacetic acid. The method employed a sodium hydroxide eluent at a flow rate of 0.8 ml/min, electrolytically generated gradients, and suppressed conductivity detection. To analyze the HAAs in real hospital wastewater samples, C18 pretreatment cartridge was utilized to reduce samples' turbidity. Preconcentration with SPE and matrix elimination with treatment cartridges were investigated and were found to be able to obtain acceptable detection limits. Linearity, repeatability and detection limits of the above method were evaluated. The detection limits of monobromoacetic acid and dibromoacetic acid were 2.61 μg/L and 1.30 μg/L respectively, and the other three are ranging from 0.48 to 0.82 μg/L under 25-fold preconcentration. When the above optimization procedure was applied to three hospital wastewater samples with different treatment processes in Tianjin, it was found that the dichloroacetic acid is the major compound, and the growth ratios of the HAAs after disinfection by sodium hypochlorite were 91.28%, 63.61% and 79.50%, respectively.     

Reconsidering priorities for forest conservation when considering the threats of mining and armed conflict

Many threats to biodiversity can be predicted and are well mapped but others are uncertain in their extent, impact on biodiversity, and ability for conservation efforts to address, making them more difficult to account for in spatial conservation planning efforts, and as a result, they are often ignored. Here, we use a spatial prioritisation analysis to evaluate the consequences of considering only relatively well-mapped threats to biodiversity and compare this with planning scenarios that also account for more uncertain threats (in this case mining and armed conflict) under different management strategies. We evaluate three management strategies to address these more uncertain threats: 1. to ignore them; 2. avoid them; or 3. specifically target actions towards them, first individually and then simultaneously to assess the impact of their inclusion in spatial prioritisations. We apply our approach to the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and identify priority areas for conserving biodiversity and carbon sequestration services. We found that a strategy that avoids addressing threats of mining and armed conflict more often misses important opportunities for biodiversity conservation, compared to a strategy that targets action towards areas under threat (assuming a biodiversity benefit is possible). We found that considering mining and armed conflict threats to biodiversity independently rather than simultaneously results in 13 800–14 800 km² and 15 700–25 100 km² of potential missed conservation opportunities when undertaking threat-avoiding and threat-targeting management strategies, respectively. Our analysis emphasises the importance of considering all threats that can be mapped in spatial conservation prioritisation.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13280-022-01724-0.     

铸造行业挥发性有机物排放成分谱及影响

采用气袋-吸附管采样方法对京津冀地区9家铸造企业重点工序有组织和无组织排放气体进行采集,运用气相色谱-质谱联用技术（GC-MS）测定了56种VOCs组分,首次建立了铸造行业基于生产工序的VOCs源成分谱,并且结合臭氧生成潜势分析了VOCs对臭氧生成的贡献.结果表明,铸造行业VOCs特征组分主要为芳烃、卤代烃和含氧VOCs,平均占比分别为：50.9%、20.8%和12.6%.总体而言,甲苯、苯、间/对-二甲苯等芳烃,二氯甲烷、三氯乙烯等卤代烃,丙酮、乙酸乙酯、环戊酮等含氧VOCs和部分高碳烷烃是铸造行业的特征物种.铸造企业不同生产工序的VOCs特征物种与所使用溶剂、表面处理剂的成分相关.喷漆工序是铸造行业中排放浓度最高的环节,其次为造型、硅溶胶和浇注工序.不同生产工序排放VOCs的OFP在0.29~96.09 mg·m^-3之间.喷漆工序是铸造行业OFP最高的环节,其次是造型、熔炼和浇注工序;芳烃和含氧VOCs是各生产工序OFP贡献较高的组分.1,3,5-三甲苯、1,2,4-三甲苯、甲苯和间/对-二甲苯等芳烃是铸造行业OFP贡献较高的物种,总贡献比例超过60%.建议重点对喷漆工序排放VOCs采取有效治理措施;对造型、熔炼和浇注等工序排放VOCs应采取有效收集和治理措施.     

华北平原农田硝态氮淋溶率和淋溶负荷估计

由于化肥过度施用且强度逐渐增加,华北平原氮淋溶问题日趋严重且造成了地下水污染风险.利用1991年以来公开发表的文献中290 组农田NO₃^--N 淋溶试验样本(淋溶率和10个影响因素),基于Bayesian递归回归树模型初步建立了华北平原农田NO₃^--N淋溶迁移过程统计模型.以2008年为例,基于华北平原县域合成氮肥、复合肥施用量和1 km×1 km的影响因素和土地利用(耕地)数据,最终得到1 km×1 km的华北平原农田NO₃^--N淋溶率和淋溶负荷及其不确定性水平.初步结果表明:①模型校准和验证R²分别达到0.832和0.829,模拟结果相对可靠;②华北平原耕地NO₃^--N的淋溶率具有显著的空间分异,其中位值为15.4%(R₅₀为12.6%~18.2%),其主要影响因素为土壤TN量、施N量、灌溉比例与降雨量的比值等;相应地,2008年淋溶负荷和淋溶量分别为995.1 Gg·a^-1(833.4~1156.7 Gg·a^-1);③NO₃^--N淋溶率较高的区域集中在太行山脉以东、黄河附近以及苏北的县(区、市),淋溶负荷贡献最大为河南(~37.7%)、江苏(~24.8%)和河北(~21.6%).