Heavy Minerals and Rare Earth Elements in Coastal and Inland Dune Sands of El Vizcaino Desert,Baja California Peninsula,Mexico

A heavy mineral (HM) study and light and heavy rare earth elements (LREE and HREE) analysis were performed in coastal and inland dune sands, El Vizcaino Desert, Central Baja California Peninsula, Mexico. Our study shows high abundances of hornblende and apatite in the El Vizcaino dune sands, suggesting a dominance of granodiorites/intermediate plutonic rocks and marine authigenic phosphorite in the dune sands. There is a relationship between unstable heavy minerals like hornblende, pyroxenes, and sphene, and heavy rare earth elements (HREE) that suggests that unstable heavy minerals are potential carriers of HREE in the dune fields. However, there is a slight depletion of HREE in relation to LREE, especially in one locality of the inland dunes probably associated with the wind regime and weathering of unstable heavy minerals in the sands. Inland, transitional, and coastal dune fields can be observed as different dune provinces by means of grouping HM and REE data in two separate dendograms. It seems that HREE are correlated with fine-grained sand sizes and correlated with high CIA values linked to slightly weathered sands.     

双壳类分子生物标志物对海水重金属的响应评述

海洋双壳类动物的组织和器官对微量重金属具有高富集能力,诱导机体内的某些分子生物标志物(molecular biomarkers,MBMs)发生变化,可用于指示海水中的重金属污染水平。近10年来,许多学者在双壳类MBMs对海水重金属的响应规律方面进行了研究,其中,金属硫蛋白(MTs)、热激蛋白70(HSP70)、抗氧化防御系统等受到了较多的关注。本文在介绍这些MBMs结构和功能的基础上,重点评述了各种MBMs对海水重金属的响应特征,并提出了影响双壳类MBMs应用于海水重金属监测的因素及进一步研究的方向。