Evaluation of Sea Water Quality in the Coastal Zone of Primor'e Using the Method of Microbial Indication

The response of marine microorganism community to variations in the concentrations of heavy metals in the environment is investigated for the coastal waters of Peter the Great Bay and the northern part of Primor'e. The fact of the existence and sensitivity of the individual response of plankton community microorganisms to variations in the concentrations of metals in the water under the conditions of water contamination with a complex of metals are confirmed on the basis of microbiological data and the results of their comparison to the data of chemical analysis. Microbial indication is shown to serve as an operative method of monitoring and short-term forecasting of changes in the environmental conditions of sea coastal waters. This method allows obtaining preliminary information at the stage of selecting environmental quality observation stations.     

Sinohyliopsis schlegeli珍珠层中Si、Mn、Fe和Sr离子的微生物固定化和环境因素

在日本Ishikawa Prefecture的Kanazawa大学进行了为期8个月的排水池培养实验,利用特征水和营养元素的基本因素对Sinohyliopsis schlegeli贝壳珍珠质所记录的环境变化进行观察。在2007年5月份到11月份之间,每个月向贝壳珍珠质注入四环素作为指示剂。定期测量水质,诸如pH、氧化还原势、电导率、溶解氧以及水温,通过过滤法除掉水中悬浮固体并进行光学显微镜和荧光X射线分析以及扫描电镜 能量色散X射线观察(SEM EDX)。对贝壳珍珠质的X射线荧光化学分析表明那些富含四环素的层对应高含量的Si、Mn、Fe和Sr离子。氧化还原势和溶解氧分析都证明在珍珠质中存在层。排水池中悬浮物质主要由Si、Mn和Fe元素组成,这与2007年夏季贝壳珍珠层的生物固定化中所涉及的元素一致。SEM EDX分析证明离子来自Siderocapsa sp.和Gallionella ferruginea硅藻的胃部。冬季几乎没有发生离子的生物固定化。结果表明在层化的贝壳珍珠质中存在元素的固定化,Sinohyliopsis schlegeli 在夏季以离子为食来生长珍珠质。具有这些生物氧化物的Sinohyliopsis schlegeli可能对自然界水体中重金属的清除有一定的贡献。     

Detailed geochemical studies of the initial stages of weathering of alkaline rocks: Ilha de São Sebastião, Brazil

Detailed mineral and chemical studies of samples of syenite rocks with thick weathering rinds, found in the alkaline massifs on Ilha de São Sebastião, illustrate the complex interplay between variables controlling initial weathering processes. An array of geochemical information was obtained by optical and electron microscopy, X-ray analyses, mass spectroscopy and optical spectrometry. Sericite and metahalloysite are the principal phases nucleating and forming as the perthitic feldspar rock matrix disintegrates. Incipient feldspar dissolution and the formation of submicrometer X-ray opaque secondary phases were observed in “fresh rock” material using transmission electron microscopy. Pore waters, from which secondary phases nucleate and grow are under the constant influence, as alteration proceeds, of physical (e.g., accessibility of mineral surfaces to percolating fluids) and chemical (e.g. chemistry of minerals providing the dominant solutes) controls. Minor- and trace-element signatures do not vary significantly except for Zn, Rb, Sr, Y, REE and Pb. Lathanide mobilities appear related to their host-mineral stabilities with respect to ambient pore waters.     

Life inhabits rocks: clues to rock erosion from electron microscopy of pisolite at a UNESCO heritage site in Brazil

Rock erosion is attracting increasing attention from scientists worldwide. The area encompassing the Saint John Baptist Church, Saint John Village, XVII century ruins in Rio Grande do Sul at the UNESCO World Heritage Site is considered a Brazilian treasure. However, the risk of damage to this site from rock erosion has recently increased tremendously. Generally, the rocky construction such as fence, wall and tomb stone, seems strong but is actually extremely sensitive to erosion caused by lichens, fungi, molds and bacteria. Because of biological erosion and massive exposure, the fresh rock is dominated by clays and microorganisms. Water-adsorbing clays and microorganisms influence the mechanisms of the rock erosion. In this study, the formation of bio-clay-minerals in porous structure of pisolite was demonstrated using electron microscopy. Bacterial clay mineralization can deform the rock structure and even produce organic materials. Biological activity could easily corrode rocky constructions around the Saint John Baptist Church site. The rocks are pisolitic laterites possibly formed in Tertiary over the Kretaceous Parana flood Basalts. Samples inhabited by lichens and fungi were collected from a collapsed wall in the ancient church. The zonal reddish-brown pisolites are 4 mm in diameter in a matrix of clays associated with porous and empty spaces. Elemental distribution maps from X-ray fluorescence microscopy show iron-rich spherules of pisolite, whereas the matrix is composed of Al, Si, Mn, and Sr; thus producing goethite and kaolinite. Transmission electron microscopic observation showed that various types of bacteria inhabit the spherule and are associated with clay minerals and graphite. STEM elemental analysis confirmed the bio-clay-mineralization with Al, Si, S, and Fe, around bacterial cells. The results presented here will improve our understanding of nm-scale bio-mineralization and bio-erosion in lateritic rocks. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Underground storage of carbon dioxide in depleted natural gas reservoirs and in useless aquifers

Depleted reservoirs of natural gas and petroleum can provide excellent traps for carbon dioxide. Deep aquifers, which are not used due to high salinity, can host larger amount of the carbon dioxide under their high formation pressure than natural gas and oir reservoirs. Small fraction of aquifers in sedimentary basins in the world are enough to host about 87 gigaton-C of carbon dioxide.

A preliminary technical and economical survey on the carbon dioxide injection system suggests that the energy requirement for carbon dioxide injection into subterranean aquifers is about 269 kWh/ton-C and that the investment and operation costs for system are 79 $/ton-C. By our preliminary cost estimation in Japan, the CO₂-emission-free electricity generation may become possible with a cost increase of 35% for natural-gas-fired power station, and of 60% for coal-fired-power station.     

Observation of primitive clay precursors during microcline weathering

High resolution transmission electron microscopy of clay formation on microcline has revealed a poorly ordered hydrated silicate phase with an ultrathin, 200–250 A circular form, which occurs on the feldspar surface and appears to represent the first phase before the development of normal crystalline clays. Probe analysis at ca. 100 A intervals reveals that during the formation of this material the feldspar loses silicon, potassium and aluminium while the intermediate incorporates iron.This primitive structure may result from rearrangement of the feldspar framework following the potassium-hydrogen ion exchange process involved in weathering.I thank Drs. A. Melfi (University of Sao Paulo) and B.I. Kronberg (University of Western Ontario) for providing materials and Dr. W.S. Fyfe for helpful comments. This project was partially supported by a grant from Atomic Energy Canada Ltd.     

Geochemical characteristics of Carboniferous greenstones in the Inner Zone of Southwest Japan

Abstract Greenstones, representing remnants of paleo-oceanic crust, occur in Permian and Jurassic accretionary complexes of the Inner Zone in the Southwestern Japan arc. The formation age of most of the greenstones is early Carboniferous, based on fossil ages for overlying limestones and Sm-Nd isotope ages of the greenstones themselves. The geochemistry of such greenstones is similar to those of present-day oceanic islands. Greenstones of the Permian accretionary complex (Akiyoshi belt) are alkalic and tholeiitic in composition. Some alkali basalts show peculiar features from an EM-1 mantle source, such as the Gough Island and Tristan da Chunha basalts in the South Atlantic. Greenstones of the Jurassic accretionary complex (Tamba belt) are also alkali and tholeiitic basalts with both basalt types in the northern part of the Tamba belt coming from strongly depleted characters similar to a mid-ocean ridge basalt source mantle. The variable geochemistry of the oceanic basalts is explained by hypothesis on existence of a Carboniferous mantle plume below the spreading ridge which divides the Farallon and Izanagi plates. The Akiyoshi belt seamounts and/or oceanic islands of the Farallon plate and Tamba belt seamounts and/or oceanic islands of the Izanagi plate formed simultaneously by the upwelling of the thermal plume. Some part of the Akiyoshi belt basalts originated locally from an EM-1 mantle source, while basalts from the northern parts of the Tamba belt have a normal-type mid-ocean ridge basalt (N-MORB) source component. Existence of an N-MORB signature is consistent with the presence of a spreading center in a Carboniferous 'Pacific Ocean' that caused separation of the Farallon and Izanagi plates. Disparity in accretion ages of the basaltic rocks in the Permian and Jurassic may have been caused by differences in the relative motion of the two plates.     

Weathering of apatite under extreme conditions of leaching

Apatites occurring in lateritic residues derived from high-grade metamorphic rocks from Sri Lanka are hydroxy-apatite as indicated by EPMA and XRD. Weathered phosphates and weathered crystalline products are composed of carbonate fluorapatite, crandallite, wardite, fluellite, kaolinite, goethite and gibbsite. EDAX, DTA and SIMS show the presence of amorphous materials, such as oxides of Fe, Al, Si, Al+Si, and S, on the surface of weathered phosphate. Using SEM, TEM, EDAX and electron diffraction techniques, the presence of these amorphous and crystalline materials with several transitions has been clearly identified in weathered phosphate. Recrystallization of phosphate occurred during weathering by dissolution, nucleation and precipitation. The lattice images of hydroxyapatite are gradually increased from 8.3-A basal spacings by weathering, and form mosaic bound fragments. Chondrite-, shale- and phosphorite concretion-normalized REE patterns of these apatites, known to have sedimentary origins, suggest enrichment and remobilisation during post-depositional reworking.