湖泊沉积物中胶黄铁矿的鉴出及其磁学意义

对青藏高原东部若尔盖盆地钻孔获取的湖泊沉积物进行了详细的岩石磁学调查及矿物学鉴定, 发现大量胶黄铁矿存在, 并认定其为主要的磁载体. 该矿物颗粒细小, 粒度均匀, 可能为生物化学成因. 与大量文献报道的相反, 在长期暴露于空气后, 样品中的胶黄铁矿仍未被氧化. 这可能与钻孔内该矿物被硅质胶结物包裹有关. 研究结果初步揭示了湖泊沉积物磁学研究的复杂性, 同时也为环境磁学机理的研究提供了新的线索.     

The lacustrine sedimentary records of coal-burning atmospheric pollution

With the acceleration of industrialization, coal- burning atmospheric pollution is getting more and more serious in many regions in China. However, there are only about ten odd years literature records about pollution in some large and mid-sized cities, where the atmosphere has perhaps been polluted for several decades, and therefore it is difficult to know the process and characteristic of pollution, and diffi-cult to evaluate its damage to environment. Lacustrine sediment, a natural record w…     

Dating of mine waste in lacustrine sediments using cesium-137

For over a century Medicine Lake in northern Idaho has received heavy-metal-laden tailings from the Coeur d'Alene mining district. Establishing the depositional chronology of the lake bottom sediments provides information on the source and rate of deposition of the tailings. Cesium-137, an isotope produced in the atmosphere by nuclear bomb tests, was virtually absent in the environment prior to 1951, but reached its apex in 1964. Our analysis of cesium-137 in the sediments of Medicine Lake revealed that 14 cm of fine-grained tailings were deposited in the lake from 1951 to 1964 and tailing deposition downstream was greatly reduced by the installation of tailings dams in the district in 1968. Cesium-137 analysis is accomplished by a fairly simple gamma-ray counting technique and should be a valuable tool for analyzing sedimentation in any lacustrine environment that was active during the 1950s and 1960s.     

Coral reef health and effects of socio-economic factors in Fiji and Cook Islands

This research focuses on coral reef health in the South Pacific region, an area of high global coral diversity. Coral reef health surrounding four island case studies in the Cook Islands and Fiji have been assessed in areas that have not been previously surveyed. This study compares four islands with barrier and fringing reefs that have different levels of economic development, population pressure, land-use practices, and marine management practices. This interdisciplinary research methodology includes both ecological and social data collection to further understanding of human environment interactions. In comparing the reefs with different socio-economic factors, this research shows that reefs with traditional systems of resources management are healthier, population pressure is not the main factor causing the demise of the reefs and agro-industry is the main industry causing the degradation of the reef in these four South Pacific Islands. In addition, researchers need to use a whole reef perspective to examine coral reef health.     

Chemical Mechanism Development: Laboratory Studies and Model Applications

Within the German Tropospheric Research Programme (TFS) numerous kinetic and mechanistic studies on the tropospheric reaction/degradation of the following reactants were carried out: oxygenated VOC, aromatic VOC, biogenic VOC, short-lived intermediates, such as alkoxy and alkylperoxy radicals.At the conception of the projects these selected groups were classes of VOC or intermediates for which the atmospheric oxidation mechanisms were either poorly characterised or totally unknown. The motivation for these studies was the attainment of significant improvements in our understanding of the atmospheric chemical oxidation processes of these compounds, particularly with respect to their involvement in photooxidant formation in the troposphere. In the present paper the types of experimental investigations performed and the results obtained within the various projects are briefly summarised. The major achievements are highlighted and discussed in terms of their contribution to improving our understanding of the chemical processes controlling photosmog formation in the troposphere.     

The Influence of Oxalate on Fe-Catalyzed S(IV) Oxidation by Oxygen in Aqueous Solution

This study demonstrates that oxalate has a strong inhibiting effect onFe-catalyzed S(IV) oxidation by oxygen in aqueous solution. While thepseudo-first order rate constant of S(IV) oxidation was determined to be1.6 × 10³ M^-1 s^-1 in experimentswithout oxalate, the oxidation of S(IV) was totally inhibited at a molarconcentration ratio of iron:oxalate = 1:5 at an oxalate concentration of 4M. Under these conditions, the Fe(II)/Fe(III) ratio remained nearlyconstant during the observed reaction time. The determined rate constants wereindependent of the initial oxidation state of iron. However, with increasingconcentrations of oxalate, a longer induction period is observed forexperiments with iron initially in the Fe(II) oxidation state.