The distribution of lithium in selected soils and surface waters of the southeastern U.S.A.

The distribution of Li in the environment is not well documented although its geochemistry is thought to influence human health and agriculture. This study examined the distribution of Li in the soils and surface waters of the southeastern U.S.A., contrasting the Piedmont and Coastal Plain regions. Previous studies have been limited to total, and to a lesser extent exchangeable, soil Li, usually at a single soil depth. This study evaluated more carefully the distribution of Li between the soil solution, exchange, and solid phases, and its distribution within soil profiles. Total soil Li was found to correlate strongly with clay content, and ranged from 3.74 to 59.93 mg/kg. Exchangeable Li ranged from 0.1 to 21.8 μmol/kg soil and constituted an insignificant portion of the total exchangeable cations (<0.09%) and total Li present (<1.1%) in the soils studied. Water-soluble Li ranged from 0.08 to 4.62 μg/l. Dissolved Li in 22 surface waters within the Piedmont and Coastal Plain regions of Georgia and South Carolina was also determined and ranged from 0.26 to 4.16 μg/l. The soils and surface waters of the Coastal Plain region were found to be depleted in Li relative to the Piedmont region of the southeastern U.S.A.     

A strontium isotopic study of formation waters from the Illinois basin, U.S.A.

The isotopic composition of Sr has been measured in 73 formation-water samples from Paleozoic strata in the Illinois basin; ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios range from 0.7079 to 0.7108. With the exception of four samples, the waters are more radiogenic than corresponding Paleozoic sea-water values. The relatively narrow range of slightly elevated ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr rations is uniformly distributed in waters throughout the stratigraphic column and in Silurian waters across the basin. Isotopic analyses of core samples from reservoir rocks show an absence of water-rock Sr isotopic equilibration. Basin lithology and analyses of detrital rock units indicate that clay minerals in shales and in quartz sandstone matrices represent the only significant source of radiogenic Sr for the waters. Silurian and Devonian water show a two-component mixing relation which suggests that they comprise a single hydrogeological system that evolved when radiogenic water from New Albany shales entered Silurian-Devonian carbonate rocks and mixed with marine interstitial water. Regional migration of the waters and associated petroleum within the Silurian-Devonian strata, proposed in other studies, is consistent with the Sr isotopic data. Under favorable circumstances subsurface waters are capable of retaining a Sr isotopic recor of their evolution.     

Orgin of a precambrian ultramafic intrusion in southeastern Wyoming,U.S.A.

The Preacher Creek ultramafic body is a small, lenticular-shaped intrusion of peridotite exposed in an ancient (2400–2500 m.y.), regionally metamorphosed terrane in southeastern Wyoming, U.S.A. The central core of the body consists of clinopyroxene-olivine peridotite and is surrounded by a marginal rim of peridotite in which orthopyroxene and plagioclase also occur as primary minerals. Alteration of primary minerals is relatively minor. However, at the contact with the country rock progressive alteration of the peridotite to actinolite and chlorite is locally severe. Chemical study of the effect of this alteration indicates that no more than minor changes from the primary composition of the peridotite have occurred. Petrographic studies reveal accumulative textures characteristic of stratiform complexes. Cryptic layering in the body is indicated by partial chemical analyses of the two major primary minerals, olivine and clinopyroxene.The body is inferred to have formed within the earth's crust by fractional crystallization and gravity accumulation of mafic minerals from a gabbroic magma that was differentiating along a tholeiitic trend. Subsequent to (or during) crystallization the body was remobilized, folded, and emplaced in its present site as a tectonic intrusion. Ultramafic intrusions with chemical, mineralogical, and structural features similar to the Preacher Creek body may be best explained perhaps as crystalline accumulates formed in volcanic magma chambers.     

New evidence from the southeastern U.S. for eustatic components in the late Holocene Sea levels

Changes in Holocene sea level through time have been attributed to eustatic, isostatic, and neotectonic processes. Eustatic changes imply global expression through linkage in world climate, or changes in ocean water or basin volume, while isostatic adjustment and neotectonic distortion involve regional or local geophysical parameters which must be ascertained. A Holocene sea level curve is being developed for the southeastern United States through a study of marsh stratigraphy and archaeologic sites located in marsh and interriverine areas. The curve is evaluated in light of intensive investigations of regional and local tectonic elements. Both major and some minor trends in sea level change are shown to include significant eustatic components.     

The role of the Mississippi River in wetland loss in southeastern Louisiana,U.S.A.

The suspended load of the Lower Mississippi River has decreased almost 80 percent since 1850. The long-term suspended sediment record can be loosely subdivided into three phases: a historic interval prior to 1900, a predam period (1930–1952) and a postdam period (1963–1982). The suspended load decreased 43 percent from the historic to the predam period and 51 percent from the predam to the postdam period. The decreases in suspended load after 1952 coincide with the construction of reservoirs and dams on the Missouri and Arkansas rivers. Earlier decreases may be the result of changes in land use measurement practices. The decrease in suspended load and the elimination of overbank flow by the construction of artificial levees are considered to be major causes of coastal wetland loss in southeastern Louisiana. During the historic period sediment accumulation of the marsh surface was greater than the rate of water level rise. During the pre and postdam periods, the rate of water level rise exceeded sediment accretion on the marsh surface. Although the elimination of overbank sediment clearly exacerbated the wetlands loss, an accelerated rate of water level rise during the past 25 years has been a dominant factor. Based on estimates of available overbank sediment, it is suggested that the most viable management strategy for the wetlands would be the diversion of sediment into selected areas where the land loss is most critical.     

Mercury pollution as a result of gold extraction in North Carolina,U.S.A.

Water, sediment and panned concentrate from active streams, together with some mosses and well waters, all from the vicinity of old Au operations in North Carolina, were analyzed to determine the extent of pollution from metallic Hg introduced into these areas in the 1800s and early 1900s and by modern “weekend panners”.Heavy mineral concentrates, Au grains, sediment and moss were all found to be indicators of Hg pollution, with concentrations of up to 784,000 μg/kg in heavy mineral concentrates, 7400 μg/kg in sediments, and 4900 μg/kg in moss. Surficial spots on Au grains contained as much as 44.8% Hg. Analyses of fish tissue from several of the drainage channels did not indicate Hg pollution with all values below the North Carolina average of 210 μg/kg. Mercury concentrations in stream and well waters were all below the LLD of 0.2 μg/l. In North Carolina, heavy mineral concentrates appear to be the best indicators of introduced metallic Hg.     

Pedoarchaeology of Cactus Hill,a sandy Paleoindian site in southeastern Virginia,U.S.A.

Cactus Hill is located in the Virginia Coastal Plain on a terrace above the Nottoway River. The site has a record of occupation that spans the Holocene and also offers evidence of humans late in the Pleistocene before Clovis time. Soil investigations identified several deposit types, and demonstrated that multisequal eolian sands forming the site's primary core are arrayed in spatially and temporally discrete horizons. Resting atop an ancient paleosol, the earliest sand stratum (19,540 ± 70 ¹⁴C yr B.P.) is marked by a conspicuous but culturally sterile buried surface horizon. Eolian sand above this surface supports another sequum in which Clovis and underlying “Blade” artifacts are associated with a fainter surface horizon and pronounced subsoil lamellae. Early Archaic and successively younger artifacts occur above the Clovis level in a more weakly developed uppermost sequum. This soil and cultural stratigraphy, together with considerations of regional topography, demonstrate that the landscape has evolved incrementally since about the last glacial maximum. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Concentrations and solubility of heavy metals in muck sediments from the St. Lucie Estuary,U.S.A.

To evaluate muck sediments as a potential soil amendment, total and Mehlich III-extractable concentrations of Cd, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb, Zn, and Co in 59 muck sediment samples from the St. Lucie Estuary were analyzed. A seven-step chemical fractionation procedure was used to assess the potential mobility of heavy metals. Except for Cd, the average total concentrations of the metals are lower than the reported average concentrations of these elements in municipal composts in the U.S.A. The concentrations were also below critical levels for the safe use of wastes and byproducts in agriculture, as established by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The Cd, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb, Zn and Co in the sediments were predominantly associated with silicate minerals in the residual form. Most metals in the muck sediments occur predominantly in weakly mobile or nonbioavailable forms. Use of mucks in neutral pH upland soils should not pose any significant hazards or risk to the environment. However, Cd, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb, Zn, and Co, especially Zn, Cu, and Pb, could be more readily released from the muck sediments under acidic soil conditions.     

Natural or fertilizer-derived uranium in irrigation drainage: a case study in southeastern Colorado,U.S.A.

Drainage from heavily cultivated soils may be contaminated with U that is leached from the soil or added as a trace constituent of PO₄-based commercial fertilizer. The effect of decades-long application of U-rich fertilizer on the U concentration of irrigation drainage was investigated in a small (14.2 km²) drainage basin in southeastern Colorado. The basin was chosen because previous reports indicated locally anomalous concentrations of dissolved NO₃ (6–36 mg 1⁻¹) and dissolved U (61 pg 1⁻¹) at the mouth of the only stream. Results of this study indicated minimal impact of fertilizer-U compared to natural U leached from the local soils. Detailed sampling of the stream along a 6 mile (9.7 km) reach through heavily cultivated lands indicated marked decoupling of the buildup of dissolved NO₃ and U. Dissolved U increased markedly in the upstream half of the reach and correlated positively with increases in Na, Mg, SO₄, B and Li derived from leaching of surrounding shaley soils. In contrast, major increases in dissolved NO₃ occurred farther downstream where stream water was heavily impacted by ground water return from extensively fertilized fields. Nitrogen isotopic measurements confirmed that dissolved NO₃ originated from fertilizer and soil organic N (crop waste). Uranium isotopic measurements of variably uraniferous waters showed little evidence of contamination with fertilizer-derived U of isotopically distinct²³⁴U/²³⁸U alpha activity ratio (A.R. = 1.0). Leaching experiments using local alkaline soil, irrigation water and U-rich fertilizer confirmed the ready leachability of soil-bound U and the comparative immobility of U added with liquid fertilizer. Relatively insoluble precipitates containing CaPU were formed by mixing liquid fertilizer with water containing abundant dissolved Ca. In the local soils soluble Ca is provided by dissolution of abundant gypsum. Similar studies are needed elsewhere because the mobility of fertilizer-derived U is dependent on fertilizer type, porewater chemistry and soil properties (pH, moisture, mineralogy, texture).     

Sources of sandstone artifacts and pottery from Lost Dune,a late prehistoric site in Harney County,southeastern Oregon,U.S.A.

Granitic constituents suggest distant plutonic sources for sherds representing four of six low‐fired brown ware pots and for eight of ten sandstone artifacts from Lost Dune (35HA792), a Late Prehistoric bison processing camp in Harney Basin of southeastern Oregon, a Tertiary volcanic and sedimentary region. Eight sandstone artifacts match granite‐derived sandstone near Oregon's Owyhee River, and three former pots match altered granite and rhyolite in Idaho's Owyhee Mountains. A fourth corresponds to mixed hydrovolcanic basalts near the sandstone abrader source. The sources delineate a 30 × 70 km area > 100 km from Lost Dune. Two other pots and two milling stones match deposits near this area and elsewhere. The determined sources suggest people who used Shoshoni pots and knives at Lost Dune resided in southeastern Oregon. Pots with temper from elevations above 1500 m or recovered as sherds above 1500 m might be made in summer root‐digging camps. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Gravel transport,gravel harvesting,and channel-bed degradation in rivers draining the southern olympic mountains,Washington, U.S.A.

The potential for gravel extraction to adversely affect anadromous fish habitat in three gravel-bed rivers of southwestern Washington, U.S.A., prompted the need to determine sustainable rates of gravel removal. This was accomplished by evaluating the components of a long-term sediment mass balance for the three rivers. Average annual gravel transport was determined by three independent methods. The closely agreeing results indicate that annual bedload supply decreases downstream through deposition and storage in response to declining gradient and from attrition during transport, as confirmed by laboratory experiments. A survey of gravel-bar harvesting operations indicates that the annual replenishment rate has been exceeded for up to three decades, often by more than tenfold. Analysis of data from nine stream gauging stations over a 55-yr period indicates degradation of about 0.03 m/yr in these reaches and suggests that bed degradation has produced the difference between the replenishment rates and the volumes of gravel harvested from the river beds and bars.     

Phosphorus uptake by microplankton in estuarine and coastal shelf waters near Sapelo Island,Georgia, U.S.A.

The residence times of orthophosphate measured in midsummer in estuarine and coastal shelf waters near Sapelo Island, Georgia, ranged from 1.6 to 105 h. Rates of orthophosphate uptake by microplankton varied from 1.4 to 62.2 μg P per 1 per h. Generally, when isotopic equilibrium was reached after the addition of³²P-orthophosphate, significant amounts of³²P-remained in solution, suggesting that the supply of phosphorus to microplankton was not limiting in these waters. In coastal shelf waters, the majority of phosphorus uptake (>60%) was associated with small microorganisms (<1μm); whereas, in estuarine waters or in a Gulf Stream intrusion usually a proportionately greater amount of phosphorus was incorporated into larger algae, or clumped or attached bacteria (>1μm). The time course of³²P-orthophosphate incorporation into a cold, 10% TCA insoluble, cellular fraction was more consistently linear than into whole cells. This criterion may be useful for comparative studies of phosphorus utilization by microplankton.     

Soil geochemistry of Mother Lode-type gold deposits in the Hodson mining district, central California, U.S.A.

The Hodson mining district is in the westernmost foothills of the Sierra Nevada in California, about 17 km west of the town of Angels Camp. This district is part of the West Gold Belt, which lies about 12–16 km west of, and generally parallel to, the better known Mother Lode Gold Belt in central California. The district produced several million dollars worth of Au between about 1890 and 1940.     

Selenium mobilization in a surface coal mine,Powder River Basin,Wyoming, U.S.A.

Elevated concentrations (0.6–0.9 mg/l) of selenium were detected in the groundwater of a small backfill area at a surface mine in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming. This report focuses on the source of selenium, its modes of occurrence in overburden deposits and backfill groundwater, and its fate. The immediate source of the selenium appeared to be the dissolution of preexisting soluble salts from the unsaturated zone of the overburden. The ultimate source of selenium was probably the oxidation of selenium-bearing pyrite in the geologic past. Overburden was placed partially in the saturated zone of the backfill where, upon resaturation, soluble salts dissolved in the groundwater. Water standing in the pit at the time of backfilling might have contributed to the elevated concentrations of selenium and other solutes. Selenium was found in an ash-rich coal and in clastic sediments in seven different modes of occurrence.The concentration of soluble selenium in the groundwater at this site has been decreasing since monitoring began in late 1982, and at the present rate of decrease, the concentration should drop below the State of Wyoming guideline of 0.05 mg/l for selenium in water intended for use by livestock by about mid-1992. The decrease in soluble selenium concentration may in part be due to microbially assisted reduction of selenate followed by sorption on clays and other sorbents.     

Mineral reactions in a calc-mica schist from Gassetts,Vermont, U.S.A.

A petrographic and electron microprobe study of an interbedded calc-mica schist from Gassetts, Vermont reveals the complexities of Fe-Mg crystalline solution and gradients in X _H2O/X _CO2 during regional metamorphism. The common association of microcline+diopside ± zoisite formed from biotite +calcite+quartz may be produced by continuous (Fe-Mg) exchange reactions, despite the implied metastability in the CaO-K₂O-MgO-Al₂O₃-SiO₂-H₂O-CO₂ system. Different assemblages are produced in a reaction zone between carbonate and pelite beds of varying thickness. This illustrates the importance of exhaustion of fluid buffering assemblages due to mineral reactions proceeding on a local scale. Siliceous dolomites at the same metamorphic grade have produced significantly different assemblages to the interlayered carbonatepelite sequence.     

Interaction between organic matter and trace metals in a uranium rich bog,Kern County,California, U.S.A.

Surface and groundwaters, plants and organic and inorganic components of sediments from a uranium rich bog in Kern County, California were studied to determine the mechanism of uranium entrapment and concentration.Spring waters which originate along a fault trace and contain elevated uranium concentrations (up to 293 μg/l) and other metals percolate through the waterlogged boggy meadow. Several approaches used to study the speciation of metals in the bog sediments indicate that U, unlike other metals, is predominantly associated with organic matter. In samples with high total organic carbon (>7%), uranium values range up to 1100 ppm. Analyses of organic constituents of the sediments show that humic substances, and not living plant material, are responsible for U entrapment and enrichment. Infra-red studies suggest that the mechanism of entrapment is complexation of the uranyl cation in groundwaters by car☐yl functional groups on the humic and fulvic acid molecules.Published experimental and thermodynamic data are reviewed and a mechanism to explain preferential enrichment of U over other trace metals is proposed for freshwater bog or marsh environments.     

An investigation of landslide problems in spoil piles in a strip coal mining area, West Virginia (U.S.A.)

Spoil piles in coal mine areas in north-central West Virginia suffer from numerous landslide problems. An investigation to determine the causes of these slides showed that the stratigraphic composition, the nature of the foundation soils, the seasonal high water table and the mining technique contributed to the instability. The presence of red shales is identified as a key problem.

Several models of failure were investigated based on inclinometer data. These data suggest that multiple failure surfaces may develop in spoil piles. In such cases, the initial failure surface is better defined than other movement surfaces, which either represent subsequent failures that occur in response to placement of additional spoil materials, or are shear zones of readjustment following initial failure. Results show that failures are most likely initiated along the spoil-natural ground interface and propagate slowly into the spoil mass.     

The distribution of chlorine and iodine in soil in the vicinity of lead mining and smelting operations,Bixby area,S.E. Missouri,U.S.A.

Iodine and Cl are enriched in soils in the vicinity of the Magmont and Buick lead mines near Bixby, southeastern Missouri. The enrichments, up to 5.6 ppm I and 305 ppm Cl, are against regional background of 1.26 ppm I and 41 ppm Cl. The area of highest I and Cl is thought to reflect a zone of base metal sulphide mineralization occurring about 400 m below the surface. Iodine and Cl are also enriched in soils immediately adjacent to a tailings pond, hence these elements would appear to be leached from this source. A zone of enhanced I values (up to 2.65 ppm I) to the north of a lead smelter is superimposed on a much larger zone of lead enrichment (up to 12,000 ppm Pb) and is thought to represent I released from sulphide ores on smelting.     

Grain size partitioning of metals in contaminated,coarse-grained river floodplain sediment: Clark Fork River,Montana, U.S.A.

The traditional concept of the relationship between metal content and grain size assumes that the fine fraction carries most of the metals in natural sediments. This concept is supported in many cases by strong, significant linear relationships between total-sediment metal concentrations and percentages of various fine-size fractions. Such observations have led to development of methods to correct for the effects of grain size in order to accurately document geographical and temporal variations and identify trends in metal concentrations away from a particular source. Samples from the floodplain sediment of a large, coarse-grained river system indicates that these concepts do not hold for sediments contaminated by mining and milling wastes. In this particular system, the application of methods to correct for grain-size effects would lead to erroneous conclusions about trends of metals in the drainage. This indicates that the a priori application of grain-size correction factors limits interpretation of actual metal distributions and should not be used unless data indicate that correlations exist between metals and particular size fractions.