Treatment of vinasse by electrochemical oxidation: evaluating the performance of boron-doped diamond (BDD)-based and dimensionally stable anodes (DSAs)

The removal of colour and organic compounds from vinasses derived from the wine distillery industry was studied using boron-doped diamond-based electrodes and dimensionally stable anodes. The maximum reduction of organic compounds and colour was attained with the use of boron-doped diamond-based electrode after 10 h of operation at a current density of 6.6 mA cm^?2. The current efficiency obtained was about 90% with a specific energy consumption (measured in terms of removal of chemical oxygen demand) of 17 kWh kg^?1 COD removed. The dimensionally stable anodes were capable of removing 6–47% of the organic material and reached 60% decolourisation but with a lower current efficiency (between 85 and 10%) and much higher specific energy consumption values. The anaerobic digestion of vinasse after 1 h of treatment using boron-doped diamond-based electrode showed an effective mineralisation of the organic matter contained in the sample leading to an increase in methane production during anaerobic digestion.     

Evaluation of Impact of Potential Extreme Rainfall Events on Mining in Peru

Natural Resources Research - The impact that climate change may play in the future sustainability of mining projects has become increasingly important for the mining industry and its stakeholders....     

The Stellar Ages of Elliptical Galaxies

Integrated broad-band colors and metallic lines cannot discriminate clearly between the effects of age and Z in old stellar populations. Such data are more sensitive to Z than to age. The Hβ feature provides a way to break this degeneracy. New measurements indicate that the mean stellar ages of typical E galaxy nuclei are fairly young, ranging from 2 to ∼12 Gyr. The outer parts of E galaxies are both older and more metal-poor than nuclei, consistent with the formation of E galaxies via mergers and starbursts. Age effects contribute strongly to the classic color-line strength sequence of E galaxies. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Sacred ground; the Maipés necropolis of north‐west Gran Canaria

Gran Canaria, like most of the Canary Islands, shows evidence for young basaltic volcanism in the form of cinder cones and valley‐hugging lava flows. These landforms were of no particular use to the aboriginal population, nor to the subsequent Spanish settlers, and young lava flows and lava fields are still referred to as ‘malpaís’ (badlands) in the Canary Islands. In north‐west Gran Canaria, one such lava flow fills the bottom of a steep‐sided valley, which reaches the sea at the present day village of Agaete. The lava flow erupted c. 3030 ± 90 yr bp and displays a total length of ～ 11 km. At its distal end, just outside Agaete, it hosts one of Europe’s largest and most important pre‐historic burial sites constructed of volcanic rock: the Maipés necropolis. Over 700 pre‐historic tombs (or tumuli) constructed from the aa‐type clinker materials have been identified on top of the valley‐filling lava flow. The up to soccer‐ball sized vesicular clinker fragments are sufficiently low in density to provide abundant, workable basalt blocks for the construction of the tumuli, allowing the pre‐hispanic aboriginal population to create a large and magnificent ‘sacred ground’ in an otherwise barren landscape.     

Modelling white mica pressure‐temperature‐time (P‐T‐t) paths using thermobarometric and 40Ar/39Ar thermochronologic data

White micas are major rock forming minerals in igneous and metamorphic rocks, and their chemical and isotopic variations can be used to determine pressure, temperature and time (P‐T‐t) histories. We apply ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar multi‐diffusion domain modelling to white micas from blueschists blocks in serpentinite matrix mélange from the exhumed Baja California subduction complex. Thermal history models yielded T‐t paths suggesting that ⁴⁰Ar* resides within multiple diffusion domains with varying ⁴⁰Ar* retentivity. Modelled white mica thermal histories and thermobarometric data were used to forward model continuous P‐T‐t paths. P‐T‐t paths are consistent with previous studies and are interpreted to constrain blueschist block exhumation paths within the Baja accretionary wedge. Our P‐T‐t models use temperature controlled ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar step heat data in which argon loss by volume diffusion can be demonstrated, and for which the white mica petrogenesis is known.     

Tepexpan Palaeoindian site, Basin of Mexico: multi-proxy evidence for environmental change during the late Pleistocene–late Holocene

The Tepexpan Palaeoindian skeleton was discovered in 1947 close to the former Lake Texcoco margin, in the Basin of Mexico. The find has been the object of considerable interest and discussion over the last 60 years regarding its real age and archaeological interpretation. Here we report new AMS radiocarbon dates associated with the sedimentary succession at Tepexpan with ages between 19,110 ± 90 and 612 ± 22 ¹⁴C years BP and a new uranium-series date for the skeleton with an age of 4700 ± 200 years BP that indicates a mid Holocene age. The sedimentary succession was studied in detail using: stable isotopes, diatoms, organic geochemistry and tephrochronology. The multi-proxy evidence suggests large changes around the margins of Lake Texcoco in terms of the balance between aquatic and terrestrial plants, C₃ and C₄ plants, saline, alkaline and freshwater conditions, volcanic activity, marginal reworking of lake sediments and input from the drainage basin through the late Pleistocene–late Holocene. These changes had large impacts on the prehistoric human populations living by the lake shores since the late Pleistocene in the Basin of Mexico.     

北山柳园地区中志留世埃达克质花岗岩类及其地质意义

北山柳园地区发育的埃达克质片麻状花岗闪长岩为钙碱性岩浆系列,具有较高SiO₂ (>56%),Al₂O₃ (>15%)和较低的MgO (<3%)含量,Na₂O>K₂O; 并且具有高的Sr含量(>400×10^-6)和Sr/Y比值; 样品轻重稀土强烈分异(La/Yb)_N ＝18~86,强烈亏损重稀土Yb与Y,具有不明显的Eu异常(δEu＝0.90~0.95); 富集LREE和大离子亲石元素(LILE),而亏损HREE、高场强元素(HFSE: Nb、Ta),与世界上典型的俯冲洋壳熔融形成的埃达克岩相似。然而样品具有相对高的(⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr)_I (0.70635~0.70636)和相对低的ε_Nd(t) (-0.8~-0.9),以及锆石具有相对较低的ε_Hf (t) (-0.8~+2.7)同位素特征,比典型的俯冲洋壳熔融形成埃达克岩具有更多的放射成因,推测可能是源区加入了地壳物质/沉积物/或特殊的洋壳(OIB/E-MORB)熔融,以及侵位过程中地壳物质的混染所造成的。埃达克质片麻状黑云母花岗岩锆石LA-ICPMS年龄为424±4Ma,代表了花岗岩埃达克花岗岩的结晶年龄。花牛山岛弧带在中晚志留世时期具有较高的地热梯度,发育了大面积高ε_Nd(t)钙碱性花岗岩和区域围岩发生了高温变质作用。因此,柳园埃达克岩是由于热的洋壳向花牛山岛弧地体俯冲过程中熔融形成的,俯冲洋壳熔融是本地区早古生代大规模地壳增生的重要方式之一。     

Volcanic and structural evolution of Pico do Fogo,Cape Verde

In recent months the media have drawn attention to the Cape Verde archipelago, with particular focus on the island of Fogo, the only island presently active and with an eruption that began on 23 November 2014, finally ceasing on 7 February 2015. The Monte Amarelo conical shield forms most of the 476 km² almost circular island of Fogo. After attaining a critical elevation of about 3500 m, the Monte Amarelo shield volcano was decapitated by a giant landslide that formed a caldera‐like depression (Cha das Caldeiras), which was subsequently partially filled by basaltic nested volcanism. This younger eruptive activity culminated in the construction of the 2829 m‐high Pico do Fogo stratocone, apparently entirely made of layers of basaltic lapilli. Continued growth of the Pico do Fogo summit eruptions was interrupted in 1750, most likely after the stratocone reached a critical height. Since then, at least eight eruptions have taken place inside the landslide depression at the periphery of the Pico do Fogo cone, including the 2014–2015 eruptive event. Strong geological similarities with the Canary Islands, 1400 km to the north, have been frequently noted, probably as a consequence of a common process of origin and evolution associated with a mantle hot‐spot. These similarities are particularly evident when comparing Fogo with the Teide Volcanic Complex on Tenerife, where a lateral collapse of the Las Cañadas stratovolcano also formed a large depression (the Caldera de Las Cañadas), now partially filled with the 3718 m‐high Teide stratocone. However, important geological differences also exist and probably relate to the contrasting evolutionary stages of both islands. The Las Cañadas volcano on Tenerife formed at a late post‐erosional stage, with predominantly evolved (trachyte and phonolite) magmas, while at Fogo basaltic volcanism is still dominant.