Natural arsenic attenuation via metal arsenate precipitation in soils contaminated with metallurgical wastes: II. Cumulative evidence and identification of minor processes

Accurate identification of individual As species in contaminated environments is critical because the toxicology, mobility and adsorptive properties of this element may vary substantially with its chemical forms and oxidation states. The goal of this work was to relate the geochemical behavior of As in soils contaminated by a lead smelter in Mexico, with its chemical speciation, and to achieve direct identification of low-solubility poorly-crystalline metal arsenates. Arsenic was identified as the most mobile trace element in the wastes from the smelting plant. Arsenic solubility in soils was significantly lower than its solubility in wastes, showing natural attenuation of this element. Its solubility in soil was quantitatively described in selected samples through thermodynamic equilibrium modeling. The results indicated that As solubility is controlled by solid Pb and Cu arsenate formation. The behaviors of the sequential chemical extractions were consistent with the presence of the predicted arsenates. Microscopic evidence of the formation of solid metal arsenates were obtained in fine soil fractions of selected samples with high As contents, by using the following complementary techniques: X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, both coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and the latter with a high angle annular dark field detector. All results supported the formation of low-solubility Pb arsenates as controlling As mobility in the samples studied, in which As(V) adsorption to Fe (hydr)oxides was not the dominant process of natural attenuation.     

Hydrogeological and geochemical characterisation of the Rock of Orvieto

The town of Orvieto, located on the Rock of the same name, is an example of “vulnerable town”; problems of slope instability connected with the lithological and morphological characteristics of the Rock have been thoroughly examined and discussed during previous research studies. Hydrogeochemical data about groundwater recharging the springs present in the area were never taken into account. Pollution of the springs is well known but still occurs for unclear reasons. The aim of this work is therefore to present the results of a hydrogeological and geochemical investigation of all the springs along the slopes of Orvieto hill and at the foot of the tuffaceous Rock, to characterize the groundwater flow paths and to suggest a possible source of contamination. The research study was carried out during three hydrogeochemical surveys in the years 1998–1999, 2003–2004, and 2007–2008.     

A new method to determine the direction of impact: Asymmetry of concentric impact craters as observed in the field (Lockne), on Mars,in experiments,and simulations

Most impacts occur at an angle with respect to the horizontal plane. This is primarily reflected in the ejecta distribution, but at very low angle structural asymmetries such as elongation of the crater and nonradial development of the central peak become apparent. Unfortunately, impact craters with pristine ejecta layers are rare on Earth and also in areas with strong past or ongoing surface erosion on other planetary bodies, and the structural analysis of central peaks requires good exposures or even on‐site access to outcrop. However, target properties are known to greatly influence the shape of the crater, especially the relatively common target configuration of a weaker layer covering a more rigid basement. One such effect is the formation of concentric craters, i.e., a nested, deeper, inner crater surrounded by a shallow, outer crater. Here, we show that with decreasing impact angle there is a downrange shift of the outer crater with respect to the nested crater. We use a combination of (1) field observation and published 3‐D numerical simulation of one of the best examples of a terrestrial, concentric impact crater formed in a layered target with preserved ejecta layer: the Lockne crater, Sweden; (2) remote sensing data for three pristine, concentric impact craters on Mars with preserved ejecta layers further constraining the direction of impact; as well as (3) laboratory impact experiments, to develop the offset in crater concentricity into a complementary method to determine the direction of impact for layered‐target craters with poorly preserved ejecta layers.     

Comparison of methods for the analysis of New Zealand sea lion,Phocarctos hookeri,milk

Abstract

The milk composition of New Zealand sea lion, Phocarctos hookeri, was determined using standard analytical methods, a MilkoScan? FT 120 and an accelerated solvent extractor (ASE) for fat concentration. The results for fat, protein and total solid concentrations between the different analytical methods were assessed using different measures of statistical fitness including coefficient of determination, concordance correlation coefficient, mean prediction error, and intraclass correlation coefficient. The repeatability and reliability of the results obtained with the calibrated MilkoScan? FT 120 were comparable with those obtained using standard methods, the Roese‐Gottlieb method for fat, Kjeldahl method for protein and gravimetric method for total solids. The MilkoScan? FT 120s are fast and cost‐effective and are widely used in dairy laboratories around the world, which should make them readily accessible to ecologists/biologists studying the milk composition of non‐domestic animals.     

Petrology of potassic alkaline ultramafic and carbonatitic rocks from Planalto da Serra (Mato Grosso State), Brazil

The Planalto da Serra igneous rocks form plugs, necks and dykes of carbonate-rich ultramafic lamprophyres (aillikites and glimmerites with kamafugitic affinity) and carbonatites (alvikites and beforsites). Phlogopite and/or tetraphlogopite, diopside and melanitic garnet are restricted to aillikitic rock-types, whereas pyroclore occurs only in carbonatites. Aillikites and carbonatites are altered to hydrotermalites, having chlorite and serpentine as dominant minerals. Planalto da Serra igneous rock association has kamafugitic affinity (i.e. effusive, ultrapotassic. High LREE/HREE fractionation, incompatible elements data and Sr-Nd isotopes, suggest that the K-ultramafic alkaline and carbonatite rocks originated from a variably metasomatized mantle source enriched in radiogenic Sr. Crustal contamination is negligible or absent. Age values of 600 Ma rule out the geochronological relationship between the investigated intrusions and the Mesozoic alkaline bodies from the Azimuth 125° lineament. The TDM model ages allow to conclude that Planalto da Serra magma is derived from the partial melting of a mantle source metasomatised by K-rich carbonatated melt during the Early to Late Neoproterozoic. On the basis of alkaline magmatism repetitions at 600 Ma and 90–80 Ma we question the subsistence of a stationary mantle plume for so long time.     

Structure of the vertical velocity field analyzed with a Doppler Sodar

Fifteen hours of Sodar echoes, collected during the 4th Environmental CEC Campaign at Turbigo, Italy, in September 1979, have been analyzed. We discuss the vertical profiles and the time evolution of the second and third statistical moments of the vertical component of wind velocity, measured at a rate of one height-profile every 6 s for a height range of 1000 m and a vertical resolution of 29 m. We also analyze the power spectra of the vertical velocity.     

Vertical deformation partitioning across a collapsing large and hot orogen

Featuring 3 000-km-long large and hot orogen, the Mantiqueira Province provides a rare opportunity to study the process of gravitational collapse at mid to deep crustal levels. Distinct but contemporary (~500 Ma) post-collisional intrusions show structures and anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) fabrics related to their emplacements, recording different flow patterns. In southern deep-seated intrusions, ellipsoidal-shaped roots with gabbroic-to-hybrid cores surrounded by granitic rocks show concentric patterns of AMS fabrics that cut across the NE-trending regional foliation. In contrast, northern intrusions, exposed as the upper sections of batholith-size bodies of coarse-grained granite emplaced at the shallow to mid-crust, show general NS-trending magnetic fabrics roughly parallel to strike of the orogen and the regional foliation of host rocks. These contrasting magnetic patterns from shallow to deeper crust suggest vertical magma migration from the overthickened orogenic core to be emplaced across its thinner stretched flanks during the gravitational collapse of the orogenic edifice.