Characterization of organic matter in sediment cores of the Todos os Santos Bay, Bahia, Brazil, by elemental analysis and 13C NMR

The impact of human activity on the sediments of Todos os Santos Bay in Brazil was evaluated by elemental analysis and ¹³C Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (¹³C NMR). This article reports a study of six sediment cores collected at different depths and regions of Todos os Santos Bay. The elemental profiles of cores collected on the eastern side of Frades Island suggest an abrupt change in the sedimentation regime. Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) analysis corroborates this result. The range of depths of the cores corresponds to about 50 years ago, coinciding with the implantation of major onshore industrial projects in the region. Principal Component Analysis of the ¹³C NMR spectra clearly differentiates sediment samples closer to the Subaé estuary, which have high contents of terrestrial organic matter, from those closer to a local oil refinery. The results presented in this article illustrate several important aspects of environmental impact of human activity on this bay.     

A NEW APPROACH TO CONFIRMATION BY INFRARED SPECTROMETRY

In the series of analytical techniques for identification of chemical substances,infrared spectrometrypresents by far the highest information content.However,the information is most complicated too.Itconcerns a multitude of band positions,band intensities and band shapes,which,moreover,can bedisturbed by matrix and other effects.The high redundancy,however,allows conclusions to be made bya qualitative,subjective procedure.IR is often used to prove the equality between a sample and a reference material,e.g.in quality controlof a production process.In forensic control,the question to be answered is mostly not to prove equality,but whether or not the presence of a compound in a sample,e.g.a drug,can be proved.Moreover,testinghas to be performed according to objective rules.To fulfil these requirements,a new retrieval algorithm,the‘Adequate Peaks Search’,is presented.Itconcerns representing the reference spectra by sets of adequate peak positions and the sample spectrumby a set of all peak positions,whereafter the cross-sections of the sample set and the reference sets aredetermined.The concept‘adequate peak’is defined and criteria have been formulated to evaluate theresults into a positive(presence of the analyte is proved) or negative(presence is not proved)conclusion.The detection limit when the Adequate Peaks Search(APS)method was applied was four to seven timeslower than that attained by a number of experts.     

Impacts of diverted freshwater on dissolved organic matter and microbial communities in Barataria Bay, Louisiana, U.S.A

Here we present results of an initial assessment of the impacts of a water diversion event on the concentrations and chemical composition of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and bacterioplankton community composition in Barataria Bay, Louisiana U.S.A, an important estuary within the Mississippi River Delta complex. Concentrations and spectral properties of DOM, as reflected by UV/visible absorbance and fluorescence, were strikingly similar at 26 sites sampled along transects near two western and two eastern areas of Barataria Bay in July and September 2010. In September 2010, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) was significantly higher (568.1-1043 μM C, x=755.6+/-117.7 μM C, n=14) than in July 2010 (249.1-577.1 μM C, x=383.7+/-98.31 μM C, n=14); conversely, Abs254 was consistently higher at every site in July (0.105-0.314) than in September (0.080-0.221), averaging 0.24±0.06 in July and 0.15±0.04 in September. Fluorescence data via the fluorescence index (FI450/500) revealed that only 30% (8 of 26) of the July samples had an FI450/500 above 1.36, compared to 96% (25 of 26) for the September samples. This indicates a more terrestrial origin for the July DOM. Bacterioplankton from eastern sites differed in composition from bacterioplankon in western sites in July. These differences appeared to result from reduced salinities caused by the freshwater diversion. Bacterioplankton communities in September differed from those in July, but no spatial structure was observed. Thus, the trends in bacterioplankton and DOM were likely due to changes in water masses (e.g., input of Mississippi River water in July and a return to estuarine waters in September). Discharge of water from the Davis Pond Freshwater Diversion (DPFD) through Barataria Bay may have partially mitigated some adverse effects of the oil spill, inasmuch as DOM is concerned.     

Microencapsulation of okadaic acid as a tool for studying the accumulation of DSP toxins in mussels

The possibility and effectiveness of microencapsulation of okadaic acid (OA) in gelatin-acacia microcapsules has been studied. The encapsulation efficiency was higher than 33%. The microcapsules were shown to be very stable, not leaching more than 9% of the encapsulated OA in a 20-h period. OA from the microcapsules was absorbed by the mussels very efficiently, accumulating--after 3 days of feeding and one of depuration--65% of the OA in microcapsules and 22% of the total OA used at the beginning of the microencapsulation process. These efficiencies and the possibility of encapsulating single DSP toxins and derivatives constitute a valuable tool for the study of the accumulation and biotransformation of DSP toxins in bivalves.     

波利尼西亚大洋岛玄武岩熔融体包体中的Pb同位素变化

大洋玄武岩的研究表明,地幔是一个同位素非均质体,但这些非均质体的性质、分布和规模存在有问题。熔融物向表面的聚集、岩浆喷发前在岩浆房的混合作用可以使聚集前熔融体的化学和同位素特征变得模糊。橄榄石为主的熔融体包体的痕量元素和常量元素研究在确定聚集前熔融体...