Organic compounds in produced waters from coalbed natural gas wells in the Powder River Basin,Wyoming, USA

The organic composition of produced water samples from coalbed natural gas (CBNG) wells in the Powder River Basin, WY, sampled in 2001 and 2002 are reported as part of a larger study of the potential health and environmental effects of organic compounds derived from coal. The quality of CBNG produced waters is a potential environmental concern and disposal problem for CBNG producers, and no previous studies of organic compounds in CBNG produced water have been published. Organic compounds identified in the produced water samples included: phenols, biphenyls, N-, O-, and S-containing heterocyclic compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), aromatic amines, various non-aromatic compounds, and phthalates. Many of the identified organic compounds (phenols, heterocyclic compounds, PAHs) are probably coal-derived. PAHs represented the group of organic compounds most commonly observed. Concentrations of total PAHs ranged up to 23 μg/L. Concentrations of individual compounds ranged from about 18 to <0.01 μg/L. Temporal variability of organic compound concentrations was documented, as two wells with relatively high organic compound contents in produced water in 2001 had much lower concentrations in 2002.     

CLIMATE CHANGE, AGRICULTURE AND WETLANDS IN EASTERN EUROPE: VULNERABILITY, ADAPTATION AND POLICY

Naturally-occurring wetlands perform such functions as flood control, pollution filtration, nutrient recycling, sediment accretion, groundwater recharge and water supply, erosion control, and plant and wildlife preservation. A large concentration of wetlands is located in Eastern Europe. A significant amount of Eastern European wetlands has been converted to agricultural use in the past, and remaining wetlands are subject to agricultural drainage. Drained wetlands are used as prime agriculture lands for a variety of food crops. Other agricultural uses of wetlands range from growing Phragmites australis (common reed) for thatch and livestock feed, to collecting peat for heating and cooking fuel. Altered hydrologic regimes due to global climate change could further exacerbate encroachment of agricultural land use into wetlands. The vulnerability and adaptation studies of the U.S. Country Studies Program are used to analyze where climate change impacts to agriculture may likewise impact wetland areas. Scenarios indicate higher temperatures and greater evapotranspiration altering the hydrologic regime such that freshwater wetlands are potentially vulnerable in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, and Russia, and that coastal wetlands are at risk in Estonia. Runoff is identified as a key hydrological parameter affecting wetland function. Since wetland losses may increase as a result of climate-change-induced impacts to agriculture, precautionary management options are reviewed, such as establishing buffer areas, promoting sustainable uses of wetlands, and restoration of farmed or mined wetland areas. These options may reduce the extent of negative agricultural impacts on wetlands due to global climate change.     

地图妆饰生活(一)

<正>你迷恋机器猫、蒙奇奇、泰迪熊或是变形金刚,于是特别爱穿印有它们图像的T恤衫,还收藏了好大一摞的画册,不仅在家里摆满了大大小小各形各款的玩偶,连放在办公室的手机座、喝水杯也都是它们的造型——没办法,资深"粉丝"就是这样热     

Using social media data to understand and assess disasters

This paper contributes to the understanding of disasters from the perspective of social media activities. We develop a measure based on Twitter activities that can be used to quantify the evolution of disasters and thus demonstrate temporal–spatial patterns of Twitter activities particularly near the coastline and in large urban areas during Hurricane Sandy. We also show a close relationship between hurricane damages and Twitter activities. Our findings suggest the potential of using social media activities for rapid damage assessment.     

Dewatering and extensional deformation of the Shikoku Basin hemipelagic sediments in the Nankai Trough

The Shikoku Basin hemipelagic sequence, which underlies the Nankai Trough wedge, S.W. Japan, thins by 50% between the outer edge of the trench wedge and DSDP Site 582, 14 km arcward. A sedimentation model, which incorporates changes in sedimentation rates with time and with distance from the trench wedge toe, indicates that 57% of the total thinning occurs as a result of temporally varying sedimentation rates and a time transgressive facies boundary between the trench wedge turbidites and the underlying hemipelagites. Burial-induced consolidation beneath the wedgeshaped turbiditic overburden, accounts for the remaining 43% of arcward thinning within the hemipelagic unit. Rapid dewatering, modeled as one-dimensional consolidation suggests that the excess pore water pressures are quite low during this progressive dewatering. Thus, high pore water pressures should not be assumed to occur universally in convergent margin settings. Normal faults and vein structures in the hemipelagites suggest near-horizontal extension in addition to vertical consolidation. The estimates of excess pore water pressures together with fault geometries and horizontal extensional strains, determined from the geometry of the subducting oceanic plate, can be used to constrain the stress conditions at failure. The expulsion of hot water from the rapidly dewatering sediments in the Nankai Trough may help to explain anomalously high heat flow in the central part of the trough.     

Siliceous microfossil succession in the recent history of two basins in Lake Baikal, Siberia

As part of the international cooperative Baikal Drilling Project, siliceous microfossil assemblage succession was analyzed in two short ( 30-cm) sediment cores from Lake Baikal. One core was recovered from the north basin (Core 324, 55°15N, 109°30E), a second from between the central and southern basins (Core 316, 52°28N, 106°5E). The northern core had higher amounts of biogenic silica (40 g SiO₂ per 100 g dry weight sediment) compared to the southern core, and increased deposition in the more recent sediments. Weight percent biogenic silica was lower in the southern core, ranging from approximately 20–30 g SiO₂ per 100 g dry weight sediment throughout the entire core. Trends in absolute microfossil abundance mirror those of biogenic silica, with generally greater abundance in the northern core (86–275×10⁶ microfossils g^–1 dry sediment) compared to the southern core (94–163×10⁶ microfossils g^–1 dry sediment).Cluster analyses using relative abundance of the dominant diatom and chrysophyte taxa revealed four zones of microfossil succession in each core. Microfossil assemblage succession in the north basin may be reflecting shifts in nutrient supply and cycling driven by climatic changes. The most recent sediments in the northern basin (Zone 1,c. 1890's–1991 A.D.) were characterized by an increased abundance ofAulacoseira baicalensis andAulacoseira spore. Zone 3 (c. 1630's–1830's A.D.) was dominated by the endemicCyclotella spp. and reduced abundance of theAulacoseira spp. Zone 3 corresponds approximately to the Little Ice Age, a cooler climatic period. The microfossil assemblages between Zones 1 and 3 (Zone 2,c. 1830's–1890's A.D.) and below Zone 3 (Zone 4,c. 830's–1430's A.D.) are similar to one another suggesting they represent transitional intervals between warm and cold periods. Southern basin sediments record similar changes in the endemic taxa. However, the increased abundance of non-endemic planktonic taxa (e.g.Stephanodiscus binderanus, Synedra acus, Cyclostephanos dubius) during two periods in recent history (post World War II and late 1700's) suggests evidence for anthropogenic induced changes in southern Lake Baikal.     

The final Galileo SSI observations of Io: orbits G28-I33

We present the observations of Io acquired by the Solid State Imaging (SSI) experiment during the Galileo Millennium Mission (GMM) and the strategy we used to plan the exploration of Io. Despite Galileo's tight restrictions on data volume and downlink capability and several spacecraft and camera anomalies due to the intense radiation close to Jupiter, there were many successful SSI observations during GMM. Four giant, high-latitude plumes, including the largest plume ever observed on Io, were documented over a period of eight months; only faint evidence of such plumes had been seen since the Voyager 2 encounter, despite monitoring by Galileo during the previous five years. Moreover, the source of one of the plumes was Tvashtar Catena, demonstrating that a single site can exhibit remarkably diverse eruption styles—from a curtain of lava fountains, to extensive surface flows, and finally a ∼400 km high plume—over a relatively short period of time (∼13 months between orbits I25 and G29). Despite this substantial activity, no evidence of any truly new volcanic center was seen during the six years of Galileo observations. The recent observations also revealed details of mass wasting processes acting on Io. Slumping and landsliding dominate and occur in close proximity to each other, demonstrating spatial variation in material properties over distances of several kilometers. However, despite the ubiquitous evidence for mass wasting, the rate of volcanic resurfacing seems to dominate; the floors of paterae in proximity to mountains are generally free of debris. Finally, the highest resolution observations obtained during Galileo's final encounters with Io provided further evidence for a wide diversity of surface processes at work on Io.