Minority women’s microenterprises in rural areas of the United States of America: African American,Hispanic American and Native American case studies

Women in many rural areas of the US often engage in small-scale businesses as one of several avenues for contributing to household incomes. In those geographical areas that contain a significant minority population, many of the women's businesses display the cultural diversity of the regions in which they live. Likewise, women's roles as economic providers as well as wives and mothers are reflected in the manner in which they operate their businesses. Candida Brush suggests that women's strategies for operating their businesses are highly integrative because women's business decisions are intertwined with familial responsibilities, household economic demands and desires to contribute to their communities. Hispanic and Native American women in the Four Corners region of southwestern US and African American women in central Virginia participated in interviews in which they responded to numerous short answer and open-ended questions about their businesses and decision-making strategies. From these interviews an image emerges of rural minority business women who are operating their businesses at the nexus of family obligations, economic necessities, cultural ties and with a commitment for serving their communities. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Biogeochemical studies of areas of sulphide mineralization in Northern Greece

Biogeochemical and geobotanical studies have been carried out in several areas of sulphide mineralization in northern Greece. In porphyry copper areas, mineralized zones can be delineated by mapping the distribution of Minuartia verna, or by measuring the copper content of Rumex acetosella and Thymus sibthorpii. Elevated levels of molybdenum in the soil are indicated by higher concentrations of this element in T. sibthorpii. In an area of barite mineralization, biogeochemical methods were not useful in showing the barium distribution, but did provide an indication of the associated lead mineralization. The appearance of the nickel accumulator Alyssum murale near a zone of antimonite mineralization seems to be related to sporadic occurrences of ultrabasic rocks nearby.     

Biogeochemical studies at the Khetri copper deposits of Rajasthan,India

Several plants of the Khetri Copper Deposits of Rajasthan (India) accumulate very high levels of copper. The maximum concentration namely 394 ,μg/g (dry wt.) was found in the leaves of Talinum portulacifolium. Some other copper accumulators with the concentration of the metal in μg/g are: Tephrosia villosa (288), Rhus mysorensis (234) and Bouchea morubifolia (147). The respective biological absorption coefficients (copper in dried plant divided by copper in soil) for these four plants were 0.07, 1.35, 0.13 and 0.26, respectively. Leaves were found to be richer in copper than the stems. Copper levels in the leaves of Tephrosia villosa, Aerua tomentosa and Bouchea morubifolia showed a significant (linear) plant/soil relationship. Rhus mysorensis and Talinum protulacifolium showed absorption barriers at high soil copper concentrations, indicating limits to uptake in these two species.     

The Most Recent Cascadia Earthquake and Native American Narratives

The Cascadia subduction zone fault lies just off the Pacific coast of the USA and Canada. Although this fault has been seismically inactive over the written history of the Cascadia region, it has the potential to produce catastrophic earthquakes and tsunamis. A variety of dating methods have been used to show that the most recent Cascadia earthquake occurred in 1700. Among these methods is an informal analysis of oral traditions handed down by Native American peoples that appear to refer to a major earthquake in this region. A central difficulty in analyzing these narratives quantitatively is their use of a generation and other qualitative measures of time that have no fixed lengths. Here, these narratives are analyzed under an explicit statistical model of the lengths of these measures. The results raise a question about the previous conclusion that these narratives all refer to the most recent Cascadia earthquake.

     

Biogeochemical studies of metallophytes from four copper-enriched sites along the Yangtze River, China

The area along middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River is one of the biggest Cu belts in China. In the present study, the metallophytes growing in four copper (Cu)-enriched sites along the Yangtze River were surveyed to get detailed information about vegetation composition and their Cu uptake characteristics. In all sampling sites, Cu concentrations of soils were high; whereas the organic matter, acidity and salinity of most soils were on normal levels. Totally 82 plant species belonging to 45 families were recorded. All the species recorded in the present study exhibited high tolerances for Cu although they differed greatly in their abilities to accumulate Cu. Except for Rumex acetosa and Phytolacca acinosa, most species were Cu-excluders and no Cu hyperaccumulator was found. The Cu translocation factors (TFs) and bioconcentration factors (BCFs) of the 12 dominant species were fairly low, indicating low concentrations of Cu were translocated to the shoots of these species. On this basis, the potential utilization of these metallophytes for phytoremediation was discussed.     

Episodic Biogeochemical Variability in a Low-Flow Mediterranean Estuary

To investigate to what extent episodic physical processes regulate nutrient availability and phytoplankton assemblages of the Mahon estuary (Minorca Island), we carried out an intensive field study during 2010–2011. During the study period, environmental conditions spanned from intense stratification to a continuous mixing and from lack of riverine inflow to intense runoff. Our data reveals a sequence of biogeochemical states of the estuary that result from the interplay between runoff, other non-periodic forcings (winds, sea level oscillations), and variations in water renewal. Seasonal runoff was revealed as a major driver of winter circulation and of the influx of inorganic nutrients, in particular nitrate. However, because of the combination between runoff and flushing time, the effects of floodwater events on phytoplankton are short-lived (days). Conversely, during summer, when freshwater influx declines, water renewal relies on pulsed atmospheric forcing that may be of local or remote origin. As depicted from the low nitrate concentrations (<1 μM) and enhanced ammonium (>1 μM), this change in circulation and external loads carries nutrient assimilation within the estuary head and forces the use of remnant nutrients through regenerating pathways to sustain an enhanced phytoplankton biomass at the lower estuary. Episodic variability represented between 52 and 65% of the annual chlorophyll variance. Despite the fact that episodic pulses represented intense departures from base biogeochemical state of the estuary, at time scale larger than weeks, the phytoplankton community composition and dynamics was largely regulated by the integrated effect of these episodes and other environmental drivers associated with seasonality rather than by individual storm events only. Our results suggest that even though the system presents good recovery capacity to individual storm episodes, it may be more vulnerable to increased nutrient fluxes during summer, as well as to changes in episode timing and frequency.     

Biogeochemical transformation of Fe minerals in a petroleum-contaminated aquifer

The Bemidji aquifer in Minnesota, USA is a well-studied site of subsurface petroleum contamination. The site contains an anoxic groundwater plume where soluble petroleum constituents serve as an energy source for a region of methanogenesis near the source and bacterial Fe(III) reduction further down gradient. Methanogenesis apparently begins when bioavailable Fe(III) is exhausted within the sediment. Past studies indicate that Geobacter species and Geothrix fermentens-like organisms are the primary dissimilatory Fe-reducing bacteria at this site. The Fe mineralogy of the pristine aquifer sediments and samples from the methanogenic (source) and Fe(III) reducing zones were characterized in this study to identify microbiologic changes to Fe valence and mineral distribution, and to identify whether new biogenic mineral phases had formed. Methods applied included X-ray diffraction; X-ray fluorescence (XRF); and chemical extraction; optical, transmission, and scanning electron microscopy; and Mössbauer spectroscopy.All of the sediments were low in total Fe content (≈ 1%) and exhibited complex Fe-mineralogy. The bulk pristine sediment and its sand, silt, and clay-sized fractions were studied in detail. The pristine sediments contained Fe(II) and Fe(III) mineral phases. Ferrous iron represented approximately 50% of Fe_TOT. The relative Fe(II) concentration increased in the sand fraction, and its primary mineralogic residence was clinochlore with minor concentrations found as a ferroan calcite grain cement in carbonate lithic fragments. Fe(III) existed in silicates (epidote, clinochlore, muscovite) and Fe(III) oxides of detrital and authigenic origin. The detrital Fe(III) oxides included hematite and goethite in the form of mm-sized nodular concretions and smaller-sized dispersed crystallites, and euhedral magnetite grains. Authigenic Fe(III) oxides increased in concentration with decreasing particle size through the silt and clay fraction. Chemical extraction and Mössbauer analysis indicated that this was a ferrihydrite like-phase. Quantitative mineralogic and Fe(II/III) ratio comparisons between the pristine and contaminated sediments were not possible because of textural differences. However, comparisons between the texturally-similar source (where bioavailable Fe(III) had been exhausted) and Fe(III) reducing zone sediments (where bioavailable Fe(III) remained) indicated that dispersed detrital, crystalline Fe(III) oxides and a portion of the authigenic, poorly crystalline Fe(III) oxide fraction had been depleted from the source zone sediment by microbiologic activity. Little or no effect of microbiologic activity was observed on silicate Fe(III). The presence of residual “ferrihydrite” in the most bioreduced, anoxic plume sediment (source) implied that a portion of the authigenic Fe(III) oxides were biologically inaccessible in weathered, lithic fragment interiors. Little evidence was found for the modern biogenesis of authigenic ferrous-containing mineral phases, perhaps with the exception of thin siderite or ferroan calcite surface precipitates on carbonate lithic fragments within source zone sediments.     

第三极地区冰川径流研究进展北大核心CSCD

青藏高原是地球上除南北极之外冰川面积最大的区域,被称为地球“第三极”。全球变暖导致该地区冰川普遍退缩,融水释放成为冰川径流,使得下游河川径流发生重大变化,给下游流域水资源利用与管理带来挑战。然而由于第三极地区特殊的地形和复杂的气候,加上冰川水文过程内在的复杂性,使得冰川径流的研究十分困难。本文总结了目前关于冰川径流研究的几类主要方法:直接观测法、遥感观测法、水量平衡法、水化学示踪法和冰川水文模型法,其中冰川水文模型法使用最为广泛。在第三极地区,前人利用这些方法对于冰川径流的研究结果表明,自20世纪90年代以来,冰川径流普遍呈现上升趋势,但是其对于总径流的贡献同时受气候条件和流域内冰储量的影响,存在显著的空间差异;总体来看,位于西风控制区的流域的冰川径流贡献普遍大于季风控制区的流域。未来变化方面,除部分冰储量较大的西风区流域(塔里木河、印度河)外,第三极地区大多数流域冰川径流将在本世纪中叶前达到峰值。但是目前由于观测不足、模型物理机制简化等制约,对于第三极地区冰川径流的研究存在很大的不确定性,未来需要开展更多观测、开发更先进的冰川水文模型以提高第三极地区冰川径流研究的准确性,进而为该地区水资源利用与管理和防洪减灾工作提供科学依据。     

Biogeochemical consequences of macrofauna burrow ventilation

The burrow walls created by macrofauna in aquatic sediments are sites of intense chemical mass transfer. Quantitative measurement of their significance is, however, difficult because chemistry in the immediate vicinity of burrow walls is temporally dynamic due to periodic ventilation of burrows by macrofauna. A temporally dynamic, 2D multicomponent diffusion-reaction model was utilized to depict the magnitude and time dependency of chemical mass transfer in the immediate vicinity of burrow walls as well as at the water/sediment interface. The simulation results illustrate that sediment particles, pore water, and microorganisms within a few millimeters of burrow walls experience significant oscillation in pH (as much as two pH units) and dissolved oxygen concentration (between saturation and near anoxia) whereas such oscillation is absent at the water/ sediment interface. The geochemical oscillation is expected to affect the net stability of mineral phases, activities and community structures of microorganisms, and rates and magnitudes of microbial diagenetic reactions.     

Seepage of groundwater nitrate from a riparian agroecosystem into the Wye River estuary

Intensive research in Chesapeake Bay has indicated that reductions in nitrogen inputs to the bay will be necessary to restore water quality to levels needed for resurgence of bay living resources. Fall-line water quality monitoring efferts have characterized diffuse-source nitrogen inputs from a large percentage of the bay drainage basin, but relatively little information exists regarding rates of nitrogen delivery to tidal waters from coastal plain regions. Extensive nitrate contamination of shallow groundwater due to agricultural activities, coupled with the dominant role of subsurface flow in discharge from Coastal Plain regions of the drainage basin, creates the potential for high rates of nitrogen delivery to tidal waters via groundwater seepage. This study utilized intensive hydrologic and water chemistry monitoring from April 1992 through September 1994 to determine the spatial characteristics of the groundwater-estuarine interface, as well as the rates of subsurface nitrogen transport from an agricultural field into nearshore waters of the Wye River, a subestuary of Chesapeake Bay. The hydrogeologic characteristics of the study site resulted in groundwater discharge to the Wye River occurring almost exclusively within 15 m of the shoreline. Calculated groundwater discharge rates were found to vary widely in the short term due to tidal fluctuations but in the long term were driven by seasonal changes in groundwater recharge rates. The zone of groundwater discharge contracted shoreward during summer months of low discharge, and expanded to a maximum width of approximately 15 m during high discharge periods in late winter. Average discharge rates were more than five times higher in winter versus summer months. Groundwater nitrate concentrations entering the discharge zone were relatively stable throughout the study period, with little evidence of denitrification or nitrate uptake by riparian vegetation. Consequently, nitrogen discharge patterns reflected the strong seasonality in groundwater discharge. Annual nitrate-N discharge was approximately 1.2 kg m^?1 of shoreline, indicating drainage basin rates of nitrogen delivery to tidal waters of approximately 60 kg ha^?1.     

深水水库磷的生物地球化学循环

我国水能资源居世界第一。密集的水电开发形成数量庞大的梯级水库群,成为我国淡水资源最重要的存储形式之一。在这些水库中,磷的来源、生物地球化学循环过程与生态环境效应独具自身特点,但相关研究较为薄弱。本文以西南地区典型水库为例,系统地阐明了水库水体和沉积物中磷的赋存形态、时空变化特征、迁移转化规律及生物可利用性。随着国家水环境保护工作的有力推进,我国水库水体总磷(TP)浓度(0.02~0.21mg/L)呈持续降低趋势。统计结果表明,水库水体叶绿素a(Chl.a)与TP浓度呈显著正相关,表明水库藻类生长仍主要受TP浓度的影响。相较于中国东部浅水湖泊,西南地区水库沉积物中TP含量通常更高(均值>1300mg/kg),且活性磷组分(氧化还原敏感态磷：BD-P;Fe/Al结合态磷：NaOH-P;弱吸附态磷：NH₄Cl-P)占比超过50%。高分辨率观测发现,西南水库在夏季分层期显示出更高的内源磷释放速率(0.15~0.29mg/(m²·d)),远高于东部浅水湖泊(0.09~0.15mg/(m²·d))。季节性缺氧诱导的Fe/Mn结合态磷的还原溶解是水库沉积物内源磷释放的关键机制。此外,还论述了加强水库磷生物地球化学循环研究的重要意义,并提出了未来重点研究方向。

     

Biogeochemical cycling of selenium in Chinese environments

The biogeochemical cycling and chemical transformation of Se in Chinese environments is reviewed, especially with regard to the formation of low-Se environments. The occurrence, distribution, concentration and flux of Se in Chinese environments are reported in comparison to those in the rest of the world. Low-Se regions in China can be classified into 4 categories. In the NE, organic matter in the soil affects bioavailability of Se in soil. In the Huabei plain, the concentration of soil Se is strongly influenced by leaching and hydrological transport processes and Se deficient regions are mostly located on the hill-slopes due to leaching. In the Loessial Plateau, low-Se soils have developed on the low-Se parent material with a very low flux of Se between soil and plants. Low-Se regions in the SW have soils derived from weathered materials of lower Se contents. Both the lowest and highest concentrations and the flux of Se in environments are reported for China.     

Preparation and Certification of Biogeochemical Reference Materials

The Institute of Geophysical and Geochemical Exploration in China recently prepared ten biogeochemical certified reference samples GSB1‐10 (CRMs). The samples are primary agricultural products such as rice, wheat, corn, soybean, cabbage, spinach, tea, powder, chicken and apple. Lyophilisation technology and a high‐alumina ball mill were used to process the samples. Fourteen laboratories and hundreds analysts in China participated in the certification analysis. Over ten reliable analytical methods, predominately ICP‐MS, ICP‐AES and INAA, were used for analysing the samples for fifty‐nine elements. A total of 22477 determinations led to 5136 average data sets. Certified values of fifty‐four elements were assigned.     

Climate,Not Atmospheric Deposition,Drives the Biogeochemical Mass-Balance of a Mountain Watershed

Watershed mass-balance methods are valuable tools for demonstrating impacts to water quality from atmospheric deposition and chemical weathering. Owen Bricker, a pioneer of the mass-balance method, began applying mass-balance modeling to small watersheds in the late 1960s and dedicated his career to expanding the literature and knowledge of complex watershed processes. We evaluated long-term trends in surface-water chemistry in the Loch Vale watershed, a 660-ha. alpine/subalpine catchment located in Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, USA. Many changes in surface-water chemistry correlated with multiple drivers, including summer or monthly temperature, snow water equivalent, and the runoff-to-precipitation ratio. Atmospheric deposition was not a significant causal agent for surface-water chemistry trends. We observed statistically significant increases in both concentrations and fluxes of weathering products including cations, SiO₂, SO₄ ^2?, and ANC, and in inorganic N, with inorganic N being primarily of atmospheric origin. These changes are evident in the individual months June, July, and August, and also in the combined June, July, and August summer season. Increasingly warm summer temperatures are melting what was once permanent ice and this may release elements entrained in the ice, stimulate chemical weathering with enhanced moisture availability, and stimulate microbial nitrification. Weathering rates may also be enhanced by sustained water availability in high snowpack years. Rapid change in the flux of weathering products and inorganic N is the direct and indirect result of a changing climate from warming temperatures and thawing cryosphere.     

Biogeochemical cycles of carbon, sulfur, and free oxygen in a microbial mat

Complete budgets for carbon and oxygen have been constructed for cyanobacterial mats dominated by Microcoleus chthonoplastes from the evaporating ponds of a salt works located in Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Included in the budget are measured rates of O2 production, sulfate reduction, and elemental exchange across the mat/brine interface, day and night, at various temperatures and times of the year. We infer from this data the various sinks for O2, as well as the sources of carbon for primary production. To summarize, although seasonal variability exists, a major percentage of the O2 produced during the day did not diffuse out of the mat but was used within the mat to oxidize both organic carbon and the sulfide produced by sulfate reduction. At night, most of the O2 that diffused into the mat was used to oxidize sulfide, with O2 respiration of minor importance. During the day, the internal mat processes of sulfate reduction and O2 respiration generated as much or more inorganic carbon (DIC) for primary production as diffusion into the mat. Also, oxygenic photosynthesis was the most important process of carbon fixation, although anoxygenic photosynthesis may have been important at low light levels during some times of the year. At night, the DIC lost from the mat was mostly from sulfate reduction. Elemental fluxes across the mat/brine interface indicated that carbon with an oxidation state of greater than zero was taken up by the mat during the day and liberated from the mat at night. Overall, carbon with an average oxidation state of near zero accumulated in the mat. Both carbon fixation and carbon oxidation rates varied with temperature by a similar amount. These mats are thus closely coupled systems where rapid rates of photosynthesis both require and fuel rapid rates of heterotrophic carbon oxidation.     

Biogeochemical exploration for gold at a site in the Cordillera Cantabrica,Spain

Dried leaves of Festuca ovina L. (Gramineae) and Chamaespartium tridentatum (L.) P. Gibbs. sub. sp. cantabricum (Spach.) Riv.-Mart., Izco & Costa (Leguminosae) were systematically collected over areas of gold mineralization in the southern part of the Cordillera Cantabrica and analyzed for gold, arsenic and antimony by neutron activation analysis during biogeochemical exploration for gold. Although both plants indicated similar areas of gold mineralization, anomalies with F. ovina were more pronounced than those with C. tridentatum. Plant gold concentrations were shown to correlate with soil gold concentrations for the one transect examined. Cumulative frequency data were used to estimate the geochemically anomalous areas. It was concluded that biogeochemical exploration for gold was feasible within this geochemical province.     

国外河口最大浑浊带生物地球化学研究的动态

河口最大浑浊带（ＴｕｒｂｉｄｉｔｙＭａｘｉｍｕｍ,以下简称ＴＭ）在全世界不论高纬度地区或低纬度地区,各种气候类型和潮汐条件下的河口均有发现,尤其在部分混合型和垂向均匀混合型河口更为发育。其中包括不同形状和大小的河口,从小河口到诸如亚马逊河、密西西比河...