Zinc speciation in mining and smelter contaminated overbank sediments by EXAFS spectroscopy

Overbank sediments contaminated with metalliferous minerals are a source of toxic metals that pose risks to living organisms. The overbank sediments from the Geul river in Belgium contain 4000-69,000 mg/kg Zn as a result of mining and smelting activities, principally during the 19th century. Three main Zn species were identified by powder Zn K-edge EXAFS spectroscopy: smithsonite (ZnCO₃), tetrahedrally coordinated sorbed Zn (sorbed ^IVZn) and Zn-containing trioctahedral phyllosilicate. Smithsonite is a primary mineral, which accounts for approximately 20-60% of the Zn in sediments affected by mining and smelting of oxidized Zn ores (mostly carbonates and silicates). This species is almost absent in sediments affected by mining and smelting of both sulphidic (ZnS, PbS) and oxidized ores, presumably because of acidic dissolution associated with the oxidation of sulphides, as suggested by the lower pH of this second type of sediment (pH(CaCl₂) <7.0 vs. pH(CaCl₂) >7.0 for the first type). Thus, sulphide minerals in sediment deposits can act as a secondary source of dissolved metals by a chemical process analogous to acid mine drainage. The sorbed ^IVZn component ranges up to approximately 30%, with the highest proportion occurring at pH(CaCl₂) <7.0 as a result of the readsorption of dissolved Zn²⁺ on sediments constituents. Kerolite-like Zn-rich phyllosilicate is the major secondary species in all samples, and in some the only detected species, thus providing the first evidence for pervasive sequestration of Zn into this newly formed precipitate at the field scale.     

Late Pleistocene to early Holocene lake level and paleoclimate insights from Stansbury Island, Bonneville basin, Utah

This paper reports on recent multiproxy research conducted to determine the chronology of lake-level fluctuations recorded in sediments from a natural exposure at a classic Bonneville basin site. Grain size, carbonate percentage, magnetic susceptibility, amount of charcoal, and diatom community composition data were collected from the 16 lacustrine units that compose the 122 cm stratigraphic column in Stansbury Gulch. Trends observed in the measured proxies reveal several significant changes in lake level, and thereby effective moisture, over the approximately 14,500 yr time span represented by the sediments. Results (1) verify the effectiveness of the multiproxy approach in Bonneville basin studies, which has been underutilized in this region, (2) reaffirm the double nature of Lake Bonneville's Stansbury oscillation, (3) suggest a previously undocumented post-Gilbert highstand of Great Salt Lake, and (4) identify possible teleconnections between climate events in the Bonneville basin and events in the North Atlantic at about 20,500 and 7500 ¹⁴C yr BP.     

Clay smear processes in mechanically layered sequences — Results of water-saturated model experiments with free top surface

The aim of this study is to improve our knowledge of the processes that lead to clay smear during faulting of a layered sand-clay sequence in an analogue sandbox model. We carefully characterized mechanical properties of the materials used by a series of geotechnical tests. Displacement field was quantified using PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry). The model is water-saturated to allow the deformation of wet clay and sand in one experiment comprising a sand package with a horizontal layer of clay above a predefined rigid basement fault. The thickness and rigidity of the clay layer are the parameters varied in this study. The model shows a range of structures that are related to competence contrast between sand and different clay types. Results show ductile shearing of soft clay with a transition to brittle fracturing of stiff clay accompanied by the formation of rotating clay blocks in the fault zone. Localized deformation is observed through time showing (i) the propagation of one active fault migrating laterally through the sediment package, and (ii) the formation of a stable prism between two or more active faults that gets progressively smaller with minor rotation of the hanging wall fault. Continuous clay smear is observed resulting from the lateral injection of clay as well as from a reworked mixture of sand and clay.     

Bacterial and eukaryotic intact polar lipids in the eastern subtropical South Pacific: Water-column distribution, planktonic sources, and fatty acid composition

Fatty acids are generally the most abundant lipid molecules in plankton, and thus play a central role in the cycling of organic matter in the upper ocean. These fatty acids are primarily derived from intact polar diacylglycerolipids (IP-DAGs), which compose cell membranes in plankton. The molecular diversity of IP-DAGs in the upper ocean remains to be fully characterized, and the advent of high performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (HPLC/ESI-MS) approaches have now provided the opportunity to readily analyze IP-DAGs from marine planktonic communities. We used HPLC/ESI-MS to determine the concentrations of three classes of phospholipids (phosphatidlyglycerol (PG), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), and phosphatidylcholine (PC)), three classes of betaine lipids (diacylglyceryl trimethylhomoserine (DGTS), diacylglyceryl hydroxymethyl-trimethyl-β-alanine (DGTA), and diacylglyceryl carboxyhydroxymethylcholine (DGCC)), and three classes of glycolipids (monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG), digalactosyldiacylglycerol (DGDG), and sulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerol (SQDG)) in plankton filtered (>0.2 μm) from seawater collected within the euphotic zone of the eastern South Pacific. The distributions of these IP-DAGs along the cruise transect provided important new insights on their tentative planktonic sources. Complementary data from our cruise, a principle components analysis of our IP-DAG concentrations, observed fatty acid compositions of IP-DAG classes and published IP-DAG distributions in pure cultures of plankton suggest that heterotrophic bacteria were the dominant sources of PG and PE, while MGDG and SQDG originated primarily from Prochlorophytes. The origins of the other classes of IP-DAGs were less clear, although it is likely that PC, DGTS, DGTA, and DGCC were derived primarily from eukaryotic phytoplankton. The molecular distributions of fatty acids attached to the different classes of IP-DAGs were generally distinct from one another, and suggest that reported distributions of total fatty acids (as analyzed by gas chromatography) in the literature should be regarded as homogenized mixtures of distinct molecular pools of fatty acids.     

天然石棉矿床地质学及其在公共卫生政策中的应用(英文)

20世纪,越来越多的证据使人们意识到,吸入含石棉的灰尘会使从事与石棉有关的几种职业(如石棉采矿、造船和石棉产品组装)的工人患上几种严重的呼吸道疾病(石棉沉着病,肺癌和mesotheliuma)。为此已经制定了若干规定,以控制工人们在特殊的制造、采矿和其他工作地点与石棉尘埃的接触。比较间接的是控制和管理"天然产生的石棉"(NOA),这一问题近年来也引起了管理机构、健康机构和居民团体的注意。NOA包括在自然状态下原地找到的被描述为石棉的矿物,例如在基岩或土壤中的这种矿物。NOA之所以引起关注,是因为如果含石棉的岩石受到自然侵蚀或人类活动(例如修路、城市开挖、农业、采矿、压碎和碾磨)的影响,就有可能暴露并变成空中尘埃的微小纤维。天然石棉矿床的规模差异很大,从薄的四散的细脉一直到大的矿体。它们的地理分布与地质条件直接有关。石棉产出的地质背景是含镁丰富的主岩,这些岩石受到低压低温的变质作用蚀变而成。已知的容矿主岩包括变质的和已被交代的超基性岩(尤其是蛇纹岩)、一些基性火成岩、变质白云岩和变质的铁建造。石棉形状的角闪石在几种热液蚀变型的碱性火成侵入体中也能作为副矿物存在。石棉形成于可预见和可鉴别的地质环境。这种认识是一种信息,而这种信息使公众健康机构可以执行有情报根据的屏蔽和管理规划。第一步是在区域的或国家规模的尺度上确定和描述已知的(报道过的)石棉矿床。第二步是对容纳已知石棉矿的单位进行填图,以划定可能的其他石棉矿化的范围。这种地质研究使有关机构对遇到石棉的可能性做出规划,而尽量节省在不太可能遇到石棉矿的地区的管理费用。对石棉地质条件的认识可以事先应用于岩石和土壤的挖掘项目,而不管挖掘的规模有多大。这种对石棉管理的科学探索能有助于缓解对挖掘所发现的自然石棉矿床的连续不断地做出反应。因此,通过对很可能含有石棉矿床的地区做填图,规划者可开发出一些控制尘埃的程序,这些程序适用于工人和附近居民最容易暴露于空气携带的石棉的地区。     

Progress in the asteroseismic analysis of the pulsating sdB star PG 1605+072

The hot pulsating sdB star PG 1605+072 exhibits uncommon spectroscopic and pulsation properties, and is one of the biggest challenge in the field of sdB star modeling. Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain its unusually rich pulsation spectrum. The first is the natural explanation of a fast-rotating pulsator, which lifts the (2l+1)-fold degeneracy of the frequency components. Another approach, where PG 1605+072 can be seen as a slow rotator, considers that the numerous low amplitude frequency components are second- and third-order harmonics and nonlinear combinations of the highest amplitude frequencies. We investigated the two hypotheses in the light of asteroseismology, using our latest tools—including pulsation codes that incorporate star rotation and new generation complete sdB models. The results of both approaches are presented, showing interesting results and raising new questions for our understanding of this mysterious sdB star.     

Dynamics of the Hungaria asteroids

To try to understand the dynamical and collisional evolution of the Hungaria asteroids we have built a large catalog of accurate synthetic proper elements. Using the distribution of the Hungaria, in the spaces of proper elements and of proper frequencies, we can study the dynamical boundaries and the internal structure of the Hungaria region, both within a purely gravitational model and also showing the signature of the non-gravitational effects. We find a complex interaction between secular resonances, mean motion resonances, chaotic behavior and Yarkovsky-driven drift in semimajor axis. We also find a rare occurrence of large scale instabilities, leading to escape from the region. This allows to explain the complex shape of a grouping which we suggest is a collisional family, including most Hungaria but by no means all; we provide an explicit list of non-members of the family. There are finer structures, of which the most significant is a set of very close asteroid couples, with extremely similar proper elements. Some of these could have had, in a comparatively recent past, very close approaches with low relative velocity. We argue that the Hungaria, because of the favorable observing conditions, may soon become the best known sub-group of the asteroid population.     

Innovative methods of correlation and orbit determination for space debris

We propose two algorithms to provide a full preliminary orbit of an Earth-orbiting object with a number of observations lower than the classical methods, such as those by Laplace and Gauss. The first one is the Virtual debris algorithm, based upon the admissible region, that is the set of the unknown quantities corresponding to possible orbits for a given observation for objects in Earth orbit (as opposed to both interplanetary orbits and ballistic ones). A similar method has already been successfully used in recent years for the asteroidal case. The second algorithm uses the integrals of the geocentric 2-body motion, which must have the same values at the times of the different observations for a common orbit to exist. We also discuss how to account for the perturbations of the 2-body motion, e.g., the J ₂ effect.     

Discriminant analysis for estimation of groundwater age from hydrochemistry and well construction: application to New Zealand aquifers

Concentrations of tritium, chlorofluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride have been measured at over 100 groundwater monitoring sites across New Zealand, followed by interpretation of groundwater age distribution using the exponential-piston flow model. Interpreted mean residence times ranged from less than 1 year to more than 100 years, with the 25th, 50th (median) and 75th percentiles being approximately 10, 40 and 100 years, respectively. Classification functions derived from discriminant analysis and based on nine input variables (well depth, electrical conductivity and the concentrations of the ions Na, K, Ca, Mg, HCO₃, Cl and SO₄) allowed assignment of 71% of the sites to the correct of four age categories (mean residence time 10 years or less, 11–40 years, 41–100 years, or more than 100 years). The discriminant analysis classification functions were more effective than regression methods for estimating groundwater age from hydrochemistry and well depth, and can thus be used to predict the groundwater age category for any monitoring site in New Zealand.     

HYTEC results of the MoMas reactive transport benchmark

A specific benchmark has been developed by the French research group MoMas in order to improve numerical solution methods applied by reactive transport models, i.e., codes that couple hydrodynamic flow and mass transport in porous media with geochemical reactions. The HYTEC model has been applied to this benchmark exercise, and this paper summarizes some of the principal results. HYTEC is a general-purpose code, applied by industrials and research groups to a wide variety of domains, including soil pollution, nuclear waste storage, cement degradation, water purification systems, storage of CO₂, and valorization of stabilized wastes. The code has been applied to the benchmark test-cases without any specific modification. Apart from the benchmark imposed output, additional information is provided to highlight the behavior of HYTEC specifically and the simulation results in particular.