Precipitate flotation of copper as the sulfide,using recyclable amphoteric surfactants

An experimental study was made to identify surfactants which are effective for removal of copper from dilute aqueous solution (100–500 ppm) by precipitate flotation as the sulfide, and which at the same time can be recovered from the CuS product for recycle. Batch flotation experiments confirmed that a cationic surfactant was necessary for flotation of CuS from such dilute suspensions; however, no satisfactory way could be found for recovering cationic surfactants from the CuS. This led to consideration of amphoteric surfactants, which are cationic at low pH and anionic at high pH. It was found that a change to negative, rather than simply neutral, charge was required for efficient surfactant recovery. It was further found, through the assistance of experiments in which the CuS suspension was agitated with solvents, that certain functional groups which interact chemically with the CuS surface should also be absent from the surfactant molecule. Following this logic, Amphoterge K-2 (Lonza Chemical Co.) was identified as a suitable surfactant, provided CuS was precipitated with S^2? in excess. Tests established that 95% of adsorbed Amphoterge K-2 could be recovered by raising the pH to 11 and boiling the suspension for one hour, followed by decanting. Surfactant thus recovered was effective in a second flotation test. Foamate solids settled rapidly; such behavior would help reduce the consumption of chemicals for the pH change.Column flotation studies were made using Amphoterge K-2 for removal of Cu²⁺ present at 100 ppm and pH = 2. High removals of CuS could be obtained at concentrations of surfactant above about 25 ppm, for which conditions a substantial fraction of the surfactant remains in solution rather than being adsorbed onto the CuS. The recovery of CuS would be improved by introducing the surfactant in a separate feed, below the feed of CuS suspension. Adding some surfactant in the CuS feed, as well as in a lower feed, gave an even better recovery of CuS (99.8%) at sufficiently high surfactant loadings.     

Temperature and pressure dependence of Fe-Mg partitioning between garnet and phengite,with particular reference to eclogites

Experimental data combined with data from natural rocks have been used to calibrate a geothermometer based on the distribution of Fe²⁺ and Mg between coexisting garnets and phengites. The pressure effect on the K _D -value appears to be considerable. The calculated thermometer is expressed as $$T(K) = \frac{{3685 + 77.1P(kb)}}{{InK_D + 3.52}}.$$ The use of this \(K_{D_{(FeO/MgO)} }^{ga + ph}\) geothermometer on eclogites with low Fe₂O₃ content, gives P-T values which are in good accordance with those obtained by other methods. The problems that arise when Fe³⁺ is present in larger amounts, are discussed.     

Tveitite,a new calcium yttrium fluoride

Tveitite is a new mineral with formula of the type $\text{Ca}{}_{\mathrm{1?x}}\text{(}\text{Y, RE}\text{)}{}_{\mathrm{x}}\text{F}{}_{\mathrm{2+x}}\text{where}\text{x}$ is approximately 0.3. It is found in a cleavelandite pegmatite at Høydalen in Tørdal, Telemark, S. Norway. The sub-cell is thought to be monoclinic, $\text{a}\text{′=3.924,}\text{b}\text{′=3.893,}\text{c}\text{′=5.525, ß=90°26′,}\text{Z}\text{=2}$. The structure is very similar to that of fluorite and can be described in terms of a pseudo-cubic cell $\text{[1}\text{1}\text{0]}{}_0\text{= 5.527, [110]}{}_0\text{= 5.527,}\text{c}\text{= 5.525, α = 90°18′, γ = 89°37′}$ which contains approximately 1[YCa₃F₉]. The mineral shows twinning in at lest three different directions giving a grating structure probably due to high-low inversion. DTA studies show an inversion point at about 670°C. Material heated above this temperature gives X-ray diffraction patterns corresponding to yttrofluorite (a₀ 5.528). The effect of trivalent ions on the stability of fluorite is discussed.     

From the Sun to the Earth: The 13 May 2005 Coronal Mass Ejection

We report the results of a multi-instrument, multi-technique, coordinated study of the solar eruptive event of 13 May 2005. We discuss the resultant Earth-directed (halo) coronal mass ejection (CME), and the effects on the terrestrial space environment and upper Earth atmosphere. The interplanetary CME (ICME) impacted the Earth’s magnetosphere and caused the most-intense geomagnetic storm of 2005 with a Disturbed Storm Time (Dst) index reaching ?263 nT at its peak. The terrestrial environment responded to the storm on a global scale. We have combined observations and measurements from coronal and interplanetary remote-sensing instruments, interplanetary and near-Earth in-situ measurements, remote-sensing observations and in-situ measurements of the terrestrial magnetosphere and ionosphere, along with coronal and heliospheric modelling. These analyses are used to trace the origin, development, propagation, terrestrial impact, and subsequent consequences of this event to obtain the most comprehensive view of a geo-effective solar eruption to date. This particular event is also part of a NASA-sponsored Living With a Star (LWS) study and an on-going US NSF-sponsored Solar, Heliospheric, and INterplanetary Environment (SHINE) community investigation.     

A Landsat-based evaluation of lake water clarity in Maine lakes

Temporal trends in water clarity and land-use/land-cover (LULC), as well as the relationship between changes in water clarity and LULC, were analyzed using water clarity values extracted from Landsat images from 1986 to 2008, acquired for east-central Maine. Of 40 lakes identified using satellite imagery, our analysis found one lake with a significant decrease in water clarity. In a second data-set, with 99 lakes, we identified two lakes with a significant increase in water clarity. Analyses of the relationship between temporal changes in the water clarity and LULC did not identify any clear, consistent, relationships between changes in the water quality variables and LULC. Overall, the results of this study aid in the identification of the relationship between water clarity and LULC, and identify temporal changes in water clarity. The findings of this study support the previous research that demonstrates the ability of satellite imagery to be used in assessments of water clarity, thus enabling evaluation at broader spatial scales and longer temporal scales than assessments that rely solely on ground-based data.     

“Nonlinear energy stability in a compressible atmosphere”

Abstract

A magnetic field line topology with nulls, generated by superimposing a uniform magnetic field onto the field from a distributed ring current, is analyzed. This simple model, which is reminiscent of the structures found in laboratory field reversed configurations and detached plasmoids, is amenable to substantial analytical progress and also facilitates the visualization of the three dimensional field geometry. Four nulls are seen to exist and representative field lines and tubes of flux found by numerical integration are presented. An infinite number of topologically distinct flux bundles is found. These are distinguished by the number of times they encircle a circular magnetic field line. A convenient mapping is described which proves very useful in distinguishing between and following the paths of the different tubes of flux as they traverse through the null system. The separatrices that divide these flux bundles are described. The complexities already present in this simple but nontrivial configuration serve to emphasize the difficulties in analyzing more complicated geometries, but the intuition gained from this study proves beneficial in those cases. One such example is the comparison of the generic features of our model with those found in a topologically different model of plasmoid formations in the earth's magnetotail.     

Petroleum geoscience in Norden - exploration, production and organization

Offshore exploration in Norway and Denmark-in the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea-has involved drilling about 850 wildcat wells, resulting in about 300 oil and gas finds, of which 84 are fields with production. The recoverable resources of all these finds total about 65 billion barrels of oil equivalent. Almost all these hydrocarbons come from a Jurassic source and the main reservoirs and traps are Jurassic sandstones in fault blocks and Paleocene sandstones or Cretaceous chalks in gentle domes. The article describes four major fields-Ekofisk, Gullfaks, Ormen Lange and SnФhvitto illustrate some of the many challenges in developing and producing the hydrocarbons.
Elsewhere in Norden, there has been much less exploration. Drilling results have mostly been negative in mainland Sweden, onshore Denmark, onshore Svalbard and on- and offshore West Greenland. Minor oil finds have been made in Palaeozoic rocks in the Baltic Sea. The first wells have recently been drilled off the Faroe Islands, resulting in one discovery. No drilling has taken place on- or offshore East Greenland.
As a result of the hydrocarbon activities in Norway and Denmark, petroleum geoscience there has flourished, with 2000 geoscientists currently employed in the industry, many technical innovations made, a wealth of publically available information and a great increase in the understanding of the geology.     

Bias in hydraulic head measurements from multilevel vibrating-wire piezometers with excessively permeable backfill

Hydrogeology Journal - An extensive network of multilevel vibrating-wire piezometers (VWP) was recently created to monitor the spatial and temporal variation of pore pressure (and hydraulic head)...     

Seismic risk assessment and hazard mapping in Nepal

Natural Hazards - Seismic risk in the form of impending disaster has been seen from past records that moderate-to-large earthquakes have caused the loss of life and property in all parts of Nepal....     

The impact of ecosystem functional type changes on the La Plata Basin climate

In this paper, the effects of land cover changes on the climate of the La Plata Basin in southern South America are investigated using the Weather and Research Forecasting (WRF) Model configured on a 30/10km two-way interactive nested grid. To assess the regional climate changes resulting from land surface changes, the standard land cover types are replaced by time-varying Ecosystem Functional Types (EFTs), which is a newly devised land-cover classification that characterizes the spatial and interannual variability of surface vegetation dynamics. These variations indicate that natural and anthropogenic activities have caused changes in the surface physical parameters of the basin, such as albedo and roughness length, that contributed to regional climate changes. EFTs are obtained from functional attributes of vegetation computed from properties of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to represent patches of the land surface with homogeneous energy and gas exchanges with the atmosphere. Four simulations are conducted, each experimental period ranging from September to November in two contrasting years, 1988 and 1998. The influence of an identical EFT change on the surface heat fluxes, 2-m temperature and humidity, 10-m winds, convective instabilities and large-scale moisture fluxes and precipitation are explored for 1988 (a dry year) and 1998 (a wet year). Results show that the surface and atmospheric climate has a larger response to the same EFT changes in a dry year for 2-m temperature and 10-m wind; the response is larger in a wet year for 2-m water vapor mixing ratio, convective available potential energy, vertically integrated moisture fluxes and surface precipitation. For EFTs with high productivity and a weak seasonal cycle, the nearsurface temperature during the spring of 1988 and 1998 increased by as much as 1℃ in the central and western portions of La Plata Basin. Additionally, for higher productivity EFTs, precipitation differences were generally positive in both dry and wet years, although the patterns are not uniform and exhibit certain patchiness with drier conditions.