Associations and mobility of uranium in soils near a depleted uranium （DU） weapons testing site, SW Scotland

Natural uranium has three isotopes, ^238U, ^235U and ^234U, with natural abundances of 99.27 atom %, 0.72% and 0.0055%, respectively. Only ^235U is fissile and the production of nuclear fuel and nuclear weapons involves enrichment of uranium in ^235U. This process also results in separation of ^234U from ^238U, leaving depleted uranium （DU）, with typical ^234U/^238U and ^235U/^238U activity ratios of about 0.19 and 0.013, respectively, as a waste product. The high density, high melting and boiling points and chemical stability of uranium and the availability of DU in relatively pure form mean that DU has many uses, including armour-piercing munitions. Such munitions have been developed in the UK since the 1960s and testing has been carried out by the Ministry of Defence （MoD） at firing ranges such as Dundrennan, SW Scotland and Eskmeals, NW England. The firing of DU munitions can result in the dispersion of DU and its combustion products （oxides） as aerosols or as larger fragments, with the potential for human exposure either directly at the site of detonation or via post-depositional migration in the environment. The aim of this work was to investigate the potential environmental mobility of DU by characterizing the associations of U in soil porewaters with increasing distance from a firing site. To this end, several soil cores located down-wind of the firing site at Dundrennan, near Kirkcudbright, SW Scotland, were collected in May 2006. These were sectioned on-site into 1- or 2-cm depth intervals and porewaters were isolated by centfifugation （10 minutes; 8873 g） on return to the laboratory. Following filtration through 0.2-micron cellulose nitrate filters, the porewaters were analyzed by ICP-QMS （U concentration） and ICP-OES （Fe, Al, Ca, Mg, Mn concentrations）. Sub-samples were also subjected to centrifugal ultrafiltration （100, 30, and 3 kD） and to gel electrophoretic fractionation （agarose; 0.045 M Tris-borate; 20 mA, 30 minutes）. Results showed that U was present at up to 4 μg/L in the soil porewater and that the associations of U varied with sample location and soil depth.     

Hydrogeochemical controls on surface and groundwater chemistry in naturally acidic, porphyry-related mineralized areas, southern Rocky Mountains

In southern Rocky Mountains, catchments characterized by acidic, metalliferous waters that are relatively unaffected by human activity usually occur within areas that have active or historical mining activity. The US Geological Survey has utilized these mineralized but unmined catchments to constrain geochemical processes that control the surface- and ground-water chemistry associated with near surface acid weathering as well as to estimate premining conditions. Study areas include the upper Animas River watershed, Lake City, Mt. Emmons, and Montezuma in Colorado and Questa in New Mexico. Although host-rock lithologies range from Precambrian gneisses to Cretaceous sedimentary units to Tertiary volcanic complexes, mineralization is Tertiary in age and associated with intermediate to felsic composition, porphyritic plutons. Pyrite is ubiquitous. Variability of metal concentrations in water is caused by two main factors： mineralogy and hydrology. Parameters that potentially affect water chemistry include： host-rock lithology, intensity of hydrothermal alteration, sulfide mineralogy and chemistry, gangue mineralogy, length of flow path, precipitation, evaporation, and redox conditions. Springs and headwater streams have pH values as low as 2.5, sulfate up to 3700 mg/L and high dissolved metal concentrations （for example： Al up to 170 mg/L; Fe up to 250 mg/L; Cu up to 3.5 mg/L and Zn up to 14 mg/L）. With the exception of evaporative waters, the lowest pH values and highest Fe and Al concentrations occur in water draining the most intense hydrothermally altered areas consisting of the mineral assemblage quartz-sericite-pyrite. Stream beds tend to be coated with iron floc, and some reaches are underlain by ferricrete. When iron-rich ground water interacts with oxygenated waters in the stream or hyporheic zone, ferrous iron is oxidized to ferric iron, which is less soluble, leading to the precipitation of iron oxyhydroxides.     

Petrogenesis and geotectonic setting of the PanAfrican basement rocks in Bamenda Massif, Obudu Plateau, southeastern Nigeria： Evidence from trace element geochemistry

1 IntroductionThe study area is part of the Obudu Plateau,which forms part of the Precambrian Pan-African tec-tonothermal belt, lying between the West African Cra-ton and the Gabon-Congo Craton ( Fig. 1). It isbounded by the Benue Trough, in the NE-SW axi…     

THREE DIMENSIONAL MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF SEDIMENT TRANSPORT IN ESTUARINE REGIONS-A CASE STUDY OF THE HAIHE RIVER MOUTH

The paper presents the 3D finite element simulation of tidal flow and sediment transport in the estuarine region of the Haihe river. The proposed model adopts sigma-transformation of the hydrodynamic and sediment transport equations. The hydrodynamic and sediment transport models are verified in case of a simple test problem for which analytical solutions are available. Finally the models are applied to muddy Haihe river estuary of North China and it is claimed that hydrodynamic and sediment…     

电离层水平不均匀性对无线电掩星资料反演的影响

电离层水平不均匀结构是引起掩星资料反演的主要误差源.本文模拟不均匀结构对无线电掩星资料反演的影响.首先利用3-D全球射线追踪技术进行了模拟.结果指出:电离层电子密度20%的变化可能引起GPS的时延增加约12m.其次,将90%的掩星时延对应的路径长度,定义为电离层掩星测量的水平分辨率,其值为1200-2000 km.最后,计算了不同纬度电离层当地正午、子夜和日出时的电离层水平不对称指数.它表明:低纬夏季日出时,不对称指数达-78%,反演结果可能有较大误差.     

长江河源区的河水主要元素与Sr同位素来源

长江源区河水化学成分来自雨雪、蒸发盐岩、碳酸盐岩和硅酸盐岩。主要支流楚玛尔河、北麓河的主要阳离子为Na 、Ca2 和Mg2 ,占阳离子总量的97%以上.Ca Na,Mg Na,K Na的比值较低,87Sr 86Sr为0 709180±20～0 710280±11,河水成分以蒸发岩类溶解为主。发源于唐古拉山北坡的长江源头,及其支流主要阳离子为Ca2 ,Mg2 ,Na 占阳离子总量的97%以上,Ca Na,Mg Na,K Na的比值较楚玛尔河等河流高,87Sr 86Sr为0 708954±20～0 710455±18,表现为以碳酸盐岩和硅酸盐岩的溶解为主。计算表明,长江河源区河水中主要化学成分来自蒸发岩中Na 和Cl-,在河流水化学成分中占比例最大,长江河水中Cl-含量从河源区向下游明显逐渐减小,反应出河源区高寒干旱环境下河流蒸发岩的化学侵蚀作用较强的特征。     

DEVELOPMENT OF A DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR MANAGING PESTICIDE LOSSES IN AGRICULTURAL WATERSHEDS

1 INTRODUCTION Agricultural use of pesticides has been recognized as one of the important non-point pollution sources in the world, and the pesticide application to agricultural lands has led to large amounts of residues discharged into surface water through runoff (Leonard, 1990). There have been growing concerns about the fate and transport of pesticides in agricultural lands, due to the associated adverse impacts on water environment and human health (Agassi et al., 1995; Ng and Clegg…     

美国地质、地球物理和海洋学家的现状调研

1　工作特点美国的地质学、地球物理学和海洋学家们利用他们所掌握的科学知识 (地球物理、地质和历史等方面的知识 )来确定水资源、矿产资源和能源等的状况 ,围绕如何保护环境 ,预测未来地质灾害 ,利用土地资源等问题开展工作。他们利用先进的仪器对地球和水资源进行分析研究。地质学家 ,同时也包括地球物理学家们研究地球的过去、现在和未来。例如他们研究地球运动 ,试图预报地震与火山会在何时何地发生 ,以及它们对周围地区的影响。虽然地质学、地球物理学、海洋学领域密切相关 ,但也有很大的不同。地质学家研究地球的构成、过程和历史。…     

航空重力确定大地水准面的研究

随着近年来航空重力的发展,航空重力数据的精度和分辨率不断提高,其精度可达1 mGal,分辨率可达10km,这使得用航空重力数据计算精密大地水准面成为可能。本研究介绍利用满足一定条件的稳定、精确的航空重力数据计算大地水准面的一种新途径。它根据布隆公式,分离大地水准面与参考椭球,把航空重力观测值转换为大地水准面上的重力位,从而确定大地水准面。其具体步骤如下: 1.对重力扰动观测数据进行低通滤波,除去高频观测噪声; 2.利用全球重力场模型从低通滤波的重力     

欧洲标准化委员会（CEN）、联邦地理数据委员会（FGDC）和国际标准化组织（ISO）编制的元数据标准的比较

对描述地理数据元数据所采用的3项主要标准进行了比较，包括元数据基本元素的比较和作者个人观点的比较，并探讨了各标准存在的不足与问题。