Biomarkers of selected heavy metal toxicity and histology of Chanos chanos from Kaattuppalli Island,Chennai, southeast coast of India

Bioaccumulation of heavy metals and its associated histological perturbations were studied in various tissues of Chanos chanos collected from Kaattuppalli Island, and they were compared with those of fish collected from the Kovalam coast. The concentration of four heavy metals: copper, lead, zinc and cadmium were determined in water, sediment and different tissues of fish (gills, liver and muscle). The result showed a marked difference between the two sites as well as significant variations within the water, sediment and biota samples. The decreasing trend of metals from both Kaattuppalli Island and Kovalam coast was in the order of Cd > Cu > Pb > Zn. Overall, the highest metal concentration was found in the sediment, water and biota collected from Kaattuppalli Island. The accumulation in the gills and liver of C. chanos was found to be quite high in comparison with that of muscle. These tissues were further investigated by light microscopy and the results were compared with the tissues from the reference site (Kovalam coast). The presence of large lipid droplets in the liver and increase of mucous cells in the gills were some of the most noticeable alterations observed that were related to heavy metal contaminants. It is concluded that histopathological biomarkers provide reliable and discriminatory data to augment heavy metal pollution in Kaattuppalli Island. Therefore, long-term monitoring is necessary to assess the eco-health of the Kaattuppalli Island environment by choosing a bio-indicator species like C. chanos, which provide accurate, reliable measurements of environmental quality.     

Evaluation of oxidative stress in Vigna radiata L. in response to chlorpyrifos

This study aims to evaluate the effect of chlorpyrifos on several metabolic and stress related parameters of Vigna radiata L. Twenty-day-old plants were exposed to several concentrations of chlorpyrifos, ranging from 0 to 1.5?mM through foliar spray in the field condition. Analyses were done at pre-flowering (Day 5), flowering (Day 10), and post-flowering (Day 20) stages after the treatment. Lipid peroxidation rate, proline, dehydroascorbate, oxidized and total glutathione were all ascended. Chlorpyrifos enhanced lipid peroxidation rate and proline content with 1.5?mM at Day 20 whereas dehydroascorbate, oxidized and total glutathione were increased in 1.5?mM at Day 10. However, dose dependence significantly declined in content of ascorbate and reduced glutathione levels were observed at all growth stages. Among the enzymatic antioxidants, activities of superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase and glutathione reductase enhanced significantly in all the concentrations at Day 10. Maximum catalase activity was observed at Day 10 in control and it declined thereafter. The above results clearly depicted the provoked state of oxidative stress under chlorpyrifos exposure in Vigna radiata L. and therefore can be used to evaluate the degree of insecticide contamination to plant, which may be serving as biomarker in Vigna radiata L.     

TCLP法评价泉州市大气降尘重金属的生态环境风险

对泉州市不同功能区大气降尘中的重金属(Cu、Zn、Pb、Cd、Cr、As、Fe、Mn、Co、Ni、V)含量进行了分析测定,采用由美国环保署(USEPA)提出并被广泛推荐采用的TCLP法对泉州市不同功能区大气降尘中的重金属元素(Cu、Zn、Pb、Cd、Cr)的生态环境风险进行评价。以TCLP法提取的泉州市大气降尘重金属Cu、Cd、Zn、Pb、Cr、As、Fe、Mn、Co、Ni和V含量分别在2.592～63.20、0.084～2.978、9.276～3141、0.147～345.0、0.628～9.696、0.019-5.152、5.037-248.9、55.00-1261、0.040-63.56、0.735-37.43和0.020-24.07 mg/kg之间。根据TCLP法测定项目的法定阈值,泉州市大气降尘不同程度地受到Cu、Zn、Pb、Cd、Cr的污染,其中以Pb、Zn污染最为严重,其次为Cu、Cd、Cr。相关性分析结果显示,Fe、Mn、Ni、Cr、V的TCLP法提取量受样品pH值的显著影响;Pb、Cd、Mn、Co、Ni、As提取量除了受金属本身的总量影响外,还受到其它元素总量和TCLP提取量的影响。主成分分析结果表明,交通尾气尘、燃油尘、装饰材料尘、地面土壤尘、工业粉尘、建筑尘和燃煤烟尘等是泉州市大气降尘的主要来源,占总贡献率的86.01%。     

Relationships Among Exceedences of Sediment Guidelines,the Results of Ambient Sediment Toxicity Tests,and Community Metrics in Estuarine Systems

To use bioassessments to help diagnose or identify the specific environmental stressors affecting estuaries, we need a better understanding of the relationships among sediment chemistry guidelines, ambient toxicity tests, and community metrics. However, this relationship is not simple because metrics generally assess the responses at the community level of biological organization whereas sediment guidelines and ambient toxicity tests generally assess or are based on the responses at the organism level. The relationship may be further complicated by the influence of other chemical and physical variables that affect the bioavailability and toxicity of chemical contaminants in the environment. Between 1990 and 1993, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) conducted an Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) survey of estuarine sites in the Virginian Province of the eastern United States. The surveys collected data on benthic assemblages, physical and chemical habitat characteristics, and sediment chemistry and toxicity. We characterized these estuarine sites as affected by sediment contamination based on the exceedence of sediment guidelines or on ambient sediment toxicity tests (i.e., 10-day Ampelisca abdita survival). Then, benthic invertebrate metrics were compared among affected and unaffected sites to identify metrics sensitive to the contamination. A number of benthic invertebrate metrics differed between groups of sites segregated using the organism-level measures whereas other metrics did not. The difference among metrics appears to depend on the sensitivity of the individual metrics to the stressor gradient represented by metals or persistent organic toxics in sediments because the insensitive metrics do not effectively quantify the changes in the benthic invertebrate assemblage associated with these stressors. The significant relationships suggest that a relationship exists between the organism-level effects assessed by chemistry or ambient toxicity tests and the community-level effects assessed by community metrics and that the organism-level effects are predictive, to some extent, of community-level effects.     

Controls on biochemical oxygen demand in the upper Klamath River,Oregon

A series of 30-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) experiments were conducted on water column samples from a reach of the upper Klamath River that experiences hypoxia and anoxia in summer. Samples were incubated with added nitrification inhibitor to measure carbonaceous BOD (CBOD), untreated to measure total BOD, which included demand from nitrogenous BOD (NBOD), and coarse-filtered to examine the effect of removing large particulate matter. All BOD data were fit well with a two-group model, so named because it considered contributions from both labile and refractory pools of carbon: BOD_t = a₁(1 ? e^? a₀t) + a₂t. Site-average labile first-order decay rates a₀ ranged from 0.15 to 0.22/day for CBOD and 0.11 to 0.29/day for BOD. Site-average values of refractory zero-order decay rates a₂ ranged from 0.13 to 0.25 mg/L/day for CBOD and 0.01 to 0.45 mg/L/day for BOD; the zero-order CBOD decay rate increased from early- to mid-summer. Values of ultimate CBOD for the labile component a₁ ranged from 5.5 to 28.8 mg/L for CBOD, and 7.6 to 30.8 mg/L for BOD. Two upstream sites had higher CBOD compared to those downstream. Maximum measured total BOD₅ and BOD₃₀ during the study were 26.5 and 55.4 mg/L; minimums were 4.2 and 13.6 mg/L. For most samples, the oxygen demand from the three components considered here were: labile CBOD > NBOD > refractory CBOD, though the relative importance of refractory CBOD to oxygen demand increased over time. Coarse-filtering reduced CBOD for samples with high particulate carbon and high biovolumes of Aphanizomenon flos-aquae. There was a strong positive correlation between BOD, CBOD, and the labile component of CBOD to particulate C and N, with weaker positive correlation to field pH, field dissolved oxygen, and total N. The refractory component of CBOD was not correlated to particulate matter, instead showing weak but statistically significant correlation to dissolved organic carbon, UV absorbance at 254 nm, and total N. Particulate organic matter, especially the alga A.flos-aquae, is an important component of oxygen demand in this reach of the Klamath River, though refractory dissolved organic matter would continue to exert an oxygen demand over longer time periods and as water travels downstream.     

Kepone®: Toxicity and bioaccumulation in blue crabs

Two long-term studies were conducted to determine toxicity, uptake and depuration of Kepone in blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus). In the first, Kepone was administered to crabs in seawater (0.03 or 0.3 μg Kepone/I) or food (eastern oyster,Crassostrea virginica, containing 0.25 μg/g Kepone). Uptake of Kepone in 28 days was primarily through the contaminated oysters. When these crabs were held in Kepone-free seawater and fed Kepone-free oysters for 28 days, no loss of the insecticide was evident. There were adverse effects on molting and survival in crabs fed oysters that contained 0.25 μg/g Kepone. A second study was conducted to determine: (1) the depuration of Kepone over a 90-day period in blue crabs fed oysters from the James River, Virginia (containing 0.15 μg/g Kepone); and (2) the effects of Kepone on molting and survival of blue crabs fed James River oysters or laboratory-contaminated oysters that contained 0.15 or 1.9 μg/g Kepone. Crabs fed Kepone-contaminated oysters followed by a diet of Kepone-free oysters for 90 days had detectable concentrations of the insecticide in tissues. Also, blue crabs that ate oysters containing Kepone in concentrations similar to those found in oysters from the James River, died or molted less frequently than crabs fed Kepone-free oysters meats.     

Metamorphic response in orogens of different obliquity,scale and geometry

Investigation of material flow within transpressional orogens must involve integration of structural and metamorphic datasets. To illustrate the problems in documenting flow vectors we present integrated structural-metamorphic datasets from two transpressional systems; the Kaoko Belt in Namibia and the Kalinjala Shear Zone in South Australia. These orogens experienced widely differing metamorphic responses to transpressional deformation. Integration of kinematic and metamorphic datasets from the Kaoko Belt indicate shallow up-plunging extrusion trajectories in the orogen core, and show that the maximum stretching direction pattern matches the inferred flow vectors. High-grade domains (800–840 °C and 7.0–8.0 kb) in the orogen core developed low-angle upward-verging maximum stretching direction trajectories, whereas a low-grade domain (575–600 °C and 5.0–5.5 kb) in the orogen core has downward-verging lineation trajectories. The barometric differential between these high-grade and low-grade domains is entirely consistent with the angle of plunge of maximum stretching directions within the high-grade domains that were extruded obliquely, for the amount of lateral shear estimated for the orogen core. The Kalinjala Shear Zone in South Australia contrasts strongly with the Kaoko Belt. In this example, the high-grade and high-strain shear zone core of the orogen, experienced high-T/high-P metamorphism with low thermal gradients of 21–26 °C/km and steep decompressive P–T paths. The lower-grade external domains experienced lower-T/lower-P metamorphism with high thermal gradients of 35–37 °C/km. Sub-horizontal maximum stretching directions do not match the vertical extrusional flow in the high-grade core that is indicated by the metamorphic data. This comparison shows that in general and on a gross scale, maximum stretching directions do not necessarily correlate with the real flow vectors experienced during orogenesis. In some cases maximum stretching direction recorded by deformation structures is to some degree decoupled from the vertical component of material flow. Consequently, information pertaining to flow is often partitioned into information derived from deformation structures and information derived from the metamorphic record. These two datasets must be used in concert to obtain realistic constraints on first-order material flow trajectories at orogenic scales. The horizontal component of flow is typically best recorded by structural fabrics (maximum stretching direction and sense of shear), whereas the vertical component is typically best recorded by metamorphic information, such as P–T paths, temperature over depth ratio (G) and metamorphic field gradients (i.e. ΔT, ΔP and ΔG) across the orogen.     

More evidence in favour of the biochemical origin of the Mussoorie phosphorite,Kumaon Lower Himalaya,India

Particles of definite skeletal and faecal origin, oncolites and stromatolitic structures from Mussoorie phosphorite, occurring in the Kumaon Lower Himalaya, have been illustrated in the present note with the purpose of providing more evidence in favour of the biochemical mode of origin of these phosphorites.     

四川仁寿牛角寨石窟盐风化作用机理与气候响应

盐风化作用是石质文物风化劣化的重要机制之一,但其作用机理及其与气候的响应过程仍需进一步的研究。笔者等以仁寿牛角寨石窟的岩芯样品和风化样品为对比研究对象,采用镜下鉴定、X射线荧光光谱（XRF）及X射线衍射（XRD）和电子探针（EPMA）对样品的化学组成和矿物组成进行对比研究,并重点研究了样品中可溶盐的组成及结晶状态。化学组成上,风化样品中SO3平均含量是岩芯样品的16倍以上;矿物组成上,岩芯样品仅在表层0~22 cm中发现微量的石膏,而风化样品中检出了至少17. 5倍高于岩芯的石膏以及微量的Na2SO4和NaCl,这指示石窟砂岩的风化劣化与可溶盐尤其是硫酸盐有关。通过对Na2SO4、NaCl及石膏性质的研究,发现Na2SO4可以响应气候条件发生反复的Na2SO4+10 H2O Na2SO4·10H2O结晶—脱水反应,结晶时体积膨胀416%,特别是在潮湿气候条件下Na2SO4的二次结晶作用可对岩石产生更强的破坏;NaCl的存在可以降低Na2SO4的脱水相变温度（最低可至17. 6℃）和溶解度,放大Na2SO4在岩石风化过程中的作用;CaSO4对岩石风化劣化的贡献较小,但其可作为在风化作用下岩石中可溶盐聚集的指示产物。结合对温度、湿度监测数据的研究,发现每日温度、湿度随时间的变化天然契合Na2SO4—NaCl体系的温度、湿度转变条件。气候条件耦合盐风化作用是牛角寨石窟表层砂岩的主要风化方式。     

四川仁寿牛角寨石窟盐风化作用机理与气候响应

川东北米仓山寒武系苗岭统陡坡寺组主要由碎屑岩—碳酸盐岩的混合沉积物组成,多数学者认为其形成于克拉通盆地。笔者等通过对陡坡寺组的野外地质调查,综合分析其沉积环境和物源区,探讨陡坡寺组的构造环境。米仓山地区苗岭统陡坡寺组主要为灰白色中—厚层灰岩和白云岩、紫红色薄层粉砂岩、泥岩及少量灰白色薄层细砂岩等,发育水平层理、结核等沉积构造,沉积环境为潮上带和潮间带。陡坡寺组砂岩中重矿物主要由锆石、电气石、金红石、白钛矿、重晶石等组成,指示沉积岩和岩浆岩的物源母岩类型。碎屑电气石电子探针结果显示,母岩主要为贫锂花岗岩类及伴生伟晶岩和细晶岩、变质板岩、变质砂岩等。碎屑锆石的物源分析表明主要来自于542~520 Ma和993~731 Ma的岩石,来自于冈瓦纳大陆以及康滇古陆等。根据陡坡寺组的沉积序列、重矿物、锆石年代学等综合分析,陡坡寺组形成于与碰撞相关的构造环境。     

Geotechnical aspects and ground response studies in Bhuj earthquake, India

The extent of damage and affected areas in Bhuj earthquake (26th January 2001) has provided a unique opportunity to evaluate a wide range of geotechnical issues. A large area in the Rann of Kutch experienced massive liquefaction resulting in ground subsidence and lateral flow. A large number of dams in the Kutch district suffered moderate to severe damages. Many buildings were damaged and collapsed in the city of Ahmedabad situated on the bank of the Sabarmati River. In this paper, the ground response studies at a site in Ahmedabad City along with observations of geotechnical aspects such as ground cracking, sand volcanoes and liquefaction of soils associated with the Bhuj earthquake are discussed. The ground response studies indicate that the varying degree of damage to multistorey buildings in Ahmedabad in the close proximity of Sabarmati river area was essentially due to the collapse and undesirable settlement of partly saturated silty sand deposits. Large settlements are attributed to amplification of the ground and the near resonance condition. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Paleoindian environmental change and landscape response in Barger Gulch,Middle Park,Colorado

Middle Park, a high‐altitude basin in the Southern Rocky Mountains of north‐central Colorado, contains at least 59 known Paleoindian localities. At Barger Gulch Locality B, an extensive Folsom assemblage (˜10,500 ¹⁴C yr B.P.) occurs within a buried soil. Radiocarbon ages of charcoal and soil organic matter, as well as stratigraphic positions of artifacts, indicate the soil is a composite of a truncated, latest‐Pleistocene soil and a younger mollic epipedon formed between ˜6000 and 5200 ¹⁴C yr B.P. and partially welded onto the older soil following erosion and truncation. Radiocarbon ages from an alluvial terrace adjacent to the excavation area indicate that erosion followed by aggradation occurred between ˜10,200 and 9700 ¹⁴C yr B.P., and that the erosion is likely related to truncation of the latest‐Pleistocene soil. Erosion along the main axis of Barger Gulch occurring between ˜10,000 and 9700 ¹⁴C yr B.P. was followed by rapid aggradation between ˜9700 and 9550 ¹⁴C yr B.P., which, along with the erosion at Locality B, coincides with the abrupt onset of monsoonal precipitation following cooling in the region ˜11,000–10,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. during the Younger Dryas oscillation. Buried soils dated between ˜9500 and 8000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. indicate relative landscape stability and soil formation throughout Middle Park. Morphological characteristics displayed by early Holocene soils suggest pedogenesis under parkland vegetation in areas currently characterized by sagebrush steppe. The expansion of forest cover into lower elevations during the early Holocene may have resulted in lower productivity in regards to mammalian fauna, and may partly explain the abundance of early Paleoindian sites (˜11,000–10,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P., 76%) relative to late Paleoindian sites (˜10,000–8000 ¹⁴C yr B.P., 24%) documented in Middle Park. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Resistance and response: Ethnocide and genocide in the Nuba Mountains,Sudan

The Nuba claim that they are the indigenous inhabitants of the Nuba Mountains of the Sudan. Indigenous peoples here refers to pre-existence, non-dominance, cultural difference and self-identification as indigenous. As such the Nuba are politically and economically marginalized and suffered persecution and dominance under external and internal colonialism. Human rights abuses, including genocide and ethnocide (or cultural genocide) have persisted and the Nuba are increasingly under pressure to give up their traditional way of life, and lose access to their lands and other natural resources for immigrant Baggara and Jellaba ethnic groups are supported by the state. This paper traces the origins of Nuba abuse and oppression, and delineates their uneasy and turbulent relationship with the Sudanese state.     

Soil quality changes in land degradation as indicated by soil chemical, biochemical and microbiological properties in a karst area of southwest Guizhou, China

Not only the nutritional status and biological activity but also the soil ecological functioning or soil health has been impacted profoundly by land degradation in the karst area of southwest China where the karst ecosystems are generally considered as extremely vulnerable to land degradation under intensified land-use changes. The objectives of this study are to elucidate the changes in overall soil quality by a holistic approach of soil nutritional, biological activity, and soil health indicators in the karst area as impacted by intense cultivation and vegetation degradation. Topsoil samples were collected on selected eco-tesserae in a sequence of land degradation in a karst area of southwest Guizhou in 2004. The soil nutrient pools of organic carbon (C_org), extractable extracellular carbon (C_ext), total soil nitrogen (N_t), alkali-hydrolyzable nitrogen (N_ah), total phosphorus (P_t), available phosphorus (P_a) were analyzed by wet soil chemistry. The soil biological properties were studied by means of measurements of microbial biomass carbon (both by fumigation–extraction, FE-C_mic, and by calculation from substrate-incubation respiration, SIR-C_mic) of respiration [respiration without addition of substrates, basal respiration (BR), and potential respiration (PR) with substrate-incubation] and of soil enzyme activities (invertase, urease, and alkaline phosphatase). Soil health status was assessed by simple indices of C_mic/C_org and BR/C_mic in conjunction with bacterial community structures determined by polymerase chain reaction and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. While the nutritional pool parameters, such as C_org and C_ext, described basically the changes in soil life-supporting capacity with cultivation interference and vegetation declined, those parameters of biological activity such as FE-C_mic, SIR, and SIR-C_mic as well as bacterial community structures measured by molecular method evidenced well the changes in soil functioning for ecosystem health with the land degradation.     

An operational multiscale system for hazards prediction, mapping, and response

By definition, a crisis is a situation that requires assistance to be managed. Hence, response to a crisis involves the merging of local and non-local emergency response personnel. In this situation, it is critical that each participant: (1) know the roles and responsibilities of each of the other participants; (2) know the capabilities of each of the participants; and (3) have a common basis for action. For many types of natural disasters, this entails having a common operational picture of the unfolding events, including detailed information on the weather, both current and forecasted, that may impact on either the emergency itself or on response activities. The Consequences Assessment Tool Set (CATS) is a comprehensive package of hazard prediction models and casualty and damage assessment tools that provides a linkage between a modeled or observed effect and the attendant consequences for populations, infrastructure, and resources, and, hence, provides the common operational picture for emergency response. The Operational Multiscale Environment model with Grid Adaptivity (OMEGA) is an atmospheric simulation system that links the latest methods in computational fluid dynamics and high-resolution gridding technologies with numerical weather prediction to provide specific weather analysis and forecast capability that can be merged into the geographic information system framework of CATS. This paper documents the problem of emergency response as an end-to-end system and presents the integrated CATS–OMEGA system as a prototype of such a system that has been used successfully in a number of different situations.     

青藏高原中东部古近纪盆地封闭的构造-沉积-岩浆活动

青藏高原中东部分布着一系列中小型古近纪盆地,详细的野外地质调查、盆地构造-沉积学和生物地层学、地球化学和岩浆岩的40Ar/39Ar年代学结果表明,盆内充填了紫红色的陆源碎屑岩夹火山碎屑岩、碳酸盐岩和石膏层,并被晚期岩浆岩所切割,盆缘地层发生大规模掀斜而形成高陡地层和挤压向斜,盆内地层发生褶皱变形.地层内部细碎屑岩孢粉和...