Assessment of phosphogypsum impact on the salt-marshes of the Tinto river (SW Spain): role of natural attenuation processes

About 120 Mton of phosphogypsum from the fertiliser industry were stack-piled on the salt-marshes of the Tinto river (Spain). This paper investigates the capacity of salt-marshes to attenuate contamination due to downward leaching from phosphogypsum. Solids and pore-waters were characterized at different depths of the pile to reach the marsh-ground. In superficial zones, metals were highly mobile, and no reduced sulphur was found. However, pollutant concentration decreased in the pore-water in deeper oxygen-restricted zones. Metal removal occurred by precipitation of newly formed sulphides, being this process main responsible for the contamination attenuation. Pyrite-S was the main sulphide component (up to 2528 mg/kg) and occurred as framboids, leading to high degrees of pyritization (up to 97%). The sulphidization reaction is Fe-limited; however, excess of acid-volatile sulphide over other metals cause precipitation of other sulphides, mainly of Cu and As. This decrease in metal mobility significantly minimises the impact of phosphogypsums on the salt-marshes.     

PCBs and PAHs in sea-surface microlayer and sub-surface water samples of the Venice Lagoon (Italy)

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are two classes of micropollutants intensively monitored and regulated due to their toxicity, persistency and wide diffusion. Their concentrations have been investigated in sea-microlayer (SML) and sub-surface water (SSW) samples collected at two sites of the Venice Lagoon, a fragile ecosystem highly influenced by industrial and anthropogenic emissions. The total sigmaPCB concentration varies from 0.45 ng/l to 2.1 ng/l in SSW while a clear enrichment is observed in the SML, where it ranges from 1.2 ng/l to 10.5 ng/l. The total sigmaPAH concentration shows marked differences between the two stations and varies from 12.4 ng/l to 266.8 ng/l in SSW; in SML it is more uniform and ranges from 19.6 ng/l to 178.9 ng/l. The enrichment factors are not larger than 1 for both pollutants in the 'dissolved' phase, while they are most significant for the 'particulate' phase (sigmaPCB: 5-9; sigmaPAH: 4-14).     

利用背景噪声互相关研究汶川地震震源区地震波速度变化

利用2007年3月至2009年3月四川数字地震台网的宽频带连续波形资料,通过计算地震背景噪声互相关提取台站对间的经验格林函数,在0.1～0.5 Hz频带下测量每天经验格林函数与参考经验格林函数的走时偏移,进而得到各台站对在该时段内的相对地震波速度变化.结果表明,2008年5月12日汶川Ms8.0级地震造成了震源区地震波速度的急剧降低,最大降幅达0.4%;大致以安县为界,余震带西南部地区在汶川主震后波速降即达到最大值,而东北部地区的最大波速降一般出现在主震后的1~4个月,相对地震波速度变化的这种分段特性与地震序列的时空分布特征有较好的对应关系;在震源区外围的四川盆地也观测到了震后波速降低,而川西高原内部则没有出现显著的波速变化.进一步的分析和计算结果表明主震的静态应力变化和强地面运动引起的地表破坏都不能很好地解释震后波速的急剧降低,地震导致的断层区内部结构破坏和周边介质应力状态改变可能是波速变化的主要原因.     

Migrating to learn and learning to migrate: a study of the experiences and intentions of international student migrants

"The research reported here evaluates whether students come to the UK mainly for educational reasons, and therefore perceive their stay as temporary, or whether emigration for study is being used as part of a conscious strategy by people intending to become future labour migrants.... The simplest interpretation of the results appears to be that migration, experienced as a result of international moves for study purposes, does not influence planning of further migration moves. But the research also indicates that migration for education is closely tied to other types of population redistribution and should be treated by population geographers as an integral part of international migration systems." Data were collected by questionnaire survey from 349 engineering students at Hong Kong universities and 82 Hong Kong students studying engineering in the UK.     

International retirement migration in Europe

"This paper presents a review and prospectus of international retirement migration (IRM), dealing mainly with European evidence but also referring to some analogous trends in North America. The paper is in three main parts. It first makes the case for regarding IRM as a significant aspect of population geography and of migration studies; in certain areas of Mediterranean Europe, IRM also has effects on regional economic geography. The second section of the paper discusses some of the early findings from a comparative study of British elderly residents in Tuscany, Malta, the Costa del Sol and the Algarve.... The final part of the article offers further reflections on why IRM is important--for the individual migrants themselves, for the host communities, and for public policy."     

"An empire lost but a province gained": a cohort analysis of British international retirement in the Algarve

"The growth of international retirement in the Algarve has coincided with a number of changes in the international framework for population mobility as well as in the nature of the Algarve [Portugal] as a destination area. Tourism development, which is intimately linked to subsequent retirement migration, is particularly important in this. This paper considers the nature of the link between cycles of migration and of development in recipient areas, in the context of the remarkable and relatively late development of the Algarve as an area of tourism and retirement.... Cohort analysis...provides the basis for an examination of changes over time in the socio-demographic profiles of the migrants, their motivations, their residential patterns and their integration."