The persistence of lead from past gasoline emissions and mining drainage in a large riparian system: Evidence from lead isotopes in the Sacramento River, California

Lead concentrations and isotope ratios measured in river water colloids and streambed sediment samples along 426 km of the Sacramento River, California reveal that the influence of lead from the historical mining of massive sulfide deposits in the West Shasta Cu-mining district (at the headwaters of the Sacramento River) is confined to a 60 km stretch of river immediately downstream of that mining region, whereas inputs from past leaded gasoline emissions and historical hydraulic Au-mining in the Sierra Nevadan foothills are the dominant lead sources in the remaining 370 km of the river. Binary mixing calculations suggest that more than 50% of the lead in the Sacramento River outside of the region of influence of the West Shasta Cu-mining district is derived from past depositions of leaded gasoline emissions. This predominance is the first direct documentation of the geographic extent of gasoline lead persistence throughout a large riparian system (>160,000 km²) and corroborates previous observations based on samples taken at the mouth of the Sacramento River. In addition, new analyses of sediment samples from the hydraulic gold mines of the Sierra Nevada foothills confirm the present-day fluxes into the Sacramento River of contaminant metals derived from historical hydraulic Au-mining that occurred during the latter half of the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries. These fluxes occur predominantly during periods of elevated river discharge associated with heavy winter precipitation in northern California. In the broadest context, the study demonstrates the potential for altered precipitation patterns resulting from climate change to affect the mobility and transport of soil-bound contaminants in the surface environment.     

郯庐断裂带张八岭隆起北段的左旋走滑挤压变形及其~(40)Ar/~(39)Ar定年

郯庐断裂带张八岭隆起北段,自西向东分别出露北北东向的韧性滑脱变形带、脆-韧性过渡带和脆性的前陆褶断带。韧性滑脱变形带内的张八岭群片岩,广泛发生了低绿片相背景下的糜棱岩化。其中呈现为平缓的糜棱面理和近南北向的矿物拉伸线理。显微构造及石英C轴组构分析显示,该韧性滑脱带一致为上盘向南的运动。该带以东依次变为上盘向南南东→南东的逆冲活动,总体上为左旋走滑挤压变形带。张八岭群所在的韧性变形带为深部陡立走滑构造与浅部脆性构造之间的滑脱变形带,其间的差异走滑变形,造成了该滑脱层在总体向北运动中出现上盘向南的剪切变形。对6处张八岭群片岩中15个不同粒级白云母的40Ar/39Ar定年指示,变形发生在(236.2±0.5)~(238.0±0.4)Ma的中三叠世晚期。这表明郯庐断裂带的左行平移发生在华北与华南板块碰撞的深俯冲阶段,起源于陆内转换断层。     

Probabilistic seismic hazard evaluation in underground mines

Stress concentrations produced by rock deformation due to extraction in underground mines induce seismicity that can take the shape of violent and quite dangerous rockbursts.The hazard evaluation presented in this paper is based on a Bayesian probabilistic synthesis of information determined from mining situations during excavation, with previous and present data from microseismicity and seismoacustics.The method proposed in this study is an example of time-dependent on-line seismic hazard evaluation. All results presented were obtained retrospectiely for different underground coal mines in Poland and Czechoslovakia.On leave from Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences 01-452 Warszawa, ul. Ksiecia Janusza 64, Poland.     

Distribution of trace metals in the Odra River system: Water–suspended matter–sediments

Extensive investigations of trace metals concentrations in water, suspended particulate matter (SPM) and bottom sediments of the whole Odra River system were carried out over the years 1997–2000. The vertical distribution of selected metals and their mobility were also studied in the sediment cores from upper and middle river sections. Significant levels of metal contamination were found. Median concentrations (Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn and As) in the SPM and sediments were (mg kg⁻¹) 7.1 and 8.9 Cd, 128 and 146 Pb, 81 and 119 Cu, 1198 and 1204 Zn, 48 and 54 As, respectively. The highest metal pollution of the Odra River solids was found with cadmium, zinc, lead and arsenic, showing high similarity in their frequency distributions in both SPM and sediments. Cd, Zn and As appear to be of particular concern because of the high levels, that appear to be bioavailable, and their high mobility. The exchangeable and carbonate chemical forms of Cd and Zn reached up to 50% of their total amount. Besides the determination of total metal concentration, the metal chemical forms in river solids were investigated. The results of very wide studies of the Odra River system through 4 years suggest that metal pollution decreased, especially for Zn, Pb and Cu. Among all metals studied in the Odra River sediments, substantial reductions of Cd contamination were observed neither in the period after ’97 flood, nor if compared with the earlier results obtained before ’97. No essential differences of the metal contents were observed among the samples for the same river compartment, from the same locality, taken within the five sampling campaigns. The pattern of spatial and vertical metal distributions in the river solids indicates that a variety of sources might be responsible for the contamination; very intensive, historical and current mining and smelting activities probably are the most important ones.     

Plant assemblage from Opole,southern Poland: New data on Late Cretaceous vegetation of the northern part of the European Province

This paper presents the results of studies on plant macroremains found in the upper Turonian of the Folwark Quarry, Opole, Poland, associated with palynological studies of the host rocks. In addition to a few macrofossils (gymnosperm wood, conifer Geinitzia reichenbachii and fern ?Didymosorus) rich sporomorphs (bryophyte, lycopod and fern spores, conifer and angiosperm pollen grains) and marine palynomorphs (mainly dinoflagellate cysts) were recorded. The palynological analysis revealed that the vegetation on the neighbouring land (the East Sudetic Island) in the late Turonian was much more diverse than could be reconstructed based on only macrofossil remains. The latter are taxonomically restricted and dominated by one gymnosperm species (Geinitzia reichenbachii), which make them similar to most neighbouring, coeval Central European assemblages. Its over representation is, thus, a result of taphonomy.     

Inter‐laboratory Characterisation of Apatite Reference Materials for Chlorine Isotope Analysis

Here we report on a set of six apatite reference materials (chlorapatites MGMH#133648, TUBAF#38 and fluorapatites MGMH#128441A, TUBAF#37, 40, 50) which we have characterised for their chlorine isotope ratios; these RMs span a range of Cl mass fractions within the apatite Ca₁₀(PO₄)₆(F,Cl,OH)₂ solid solution series. Numerous apatite specimens, obtained from mineralogical collections, were initially screened for ³⁷Cl/³⁵Cl homogeneity using SIMS followed by δ³⁷Cl characterisation by gas source mass spectrometry using both dual‐inlet and continuous‐flow modes. We also report major and key trace element compositions as determined by EPMA. The repeatability of our SIMS results was better than ± 0.10‰ (1s) for the five samples with > 0.5 % m/m Cl and ± 0.19‰ (1s) for the low Cl abundance material (0.27% m/m). We also observed a small, but significant crystal orientation effect of 0.38‰ between the mean ³⁷Cl/³⁵Cl ratios measured on three oriented apatite fragments. Furthermore, the results of GS‐IRMS analyses show small but systematic offset of δ³⁷Cl_SMOC values between the three laboratories. Nonetheless, all studied samples have comparable chlorine isotope compositions, with mean 10³δ³⁷Cl_SMOC values between +0.09 and +0.42 and in all cases with 1s ≤ ± 0.25.     

Phase transitions in ilvaite,a mixed-valence iron silicate I. A 57Fe Mössbauer study of magnetic order and spin frustration

Ilvaite, Ca(Fe²⁺,Fe³⁺)Fe²⁺Si₂O₈(OH) shows two magnetic phase transitions, which have been studied by Mössbauer spectroscopy within the temperature range 120–4 K. The continued charge localization between Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ ions in octahedral A-sites causes the Fe²⁺-Fe³⁺ interaction to be ferromagnetic, although the overall magnetic order is antiferromagnetic. The thermal evolution of the hyperfine fields at the Fe²⁺ (A) and Fe³⁺ (A) sites indicates B _hf: 328 and 523 kOe respectively at 0 K and T _N1= 116K. The corresponding values for Fe²⁺ (B) site are: B _hf 186 kOe and T _N2=36K. An additional hyperfine field exists at the Fe²⁺(B) site within the temperature range 116–36K due to short-range order induced by the spin ordering in A sites. The considerable difference between the two magnetic transition temperatures is due to spin frustration, because the Fe²⁺ (B) site occurs on a corner common between two triangles with respect to two sets of Fe²⁺ (A) and Fe³⁺ (A) sites with opposite spin directions.     

Motion of salt water and associated fronts in tideless estuaries

The hydrodynamics of saline water in Polish estuaries are addressed in this paper. The phenomena are described on the basis of field data from several types of estuaries along the Polish Baltic Coast. Field measurements were made to reveal and to characterize the physical processes in these estuaries; this information was then used for analytic testing and verification of mathematical models. The results demonstrate the unsteady and changeable nature of both the flow conditions and the motion of salt water in tideless estuaries. The magnitudes and directions of the barotropic and baroclinic horizontal pressure gradients have a marked influence on the flow characteristics and motion of salt water in these tideless estuaries.     

Evolution of peaks in weakly non-linear density field and dark halo profiles

Using the two-point Edgeworth series up to second order in the linear rms density fluctuation we construct the weakly non-linear conditional probability distribution function for the density field around an overdense region. This requires calculating the two-point analogues of the skewness parameter S ₃. We test the dependence of the two-point skewness on distance from the peak for scale-free power spectra and Gaussian smoothing. The statistical features of such a conditional distribution are given as the values obtained within linear theory corrected by the terms that arise as a result of weakly non-linear evolution. The expected density around the peak is found to be always below the linear prediction while its dispersion is always larger than in the linear case. For large enough overdensities the weakly non-linear corrections can be more significant than the peak constraint introduced by Bardeen et al. We apply these results to the spherical model of collapse as developed by Hoffman & Shaham and find that in general the effect of weakly non-linear interactions is to decrease the scale from which a peak gathers mass and therefore also the mass itself. In the case of an open universe this results in steepening of the final profile of the virialized proto-object.