A three-dimensional analytical tool for modeling reactive transport

In this note, we present a public domain analytical reactive transport modeling tool (ART3D, version 2.0). The tool is developed in FORTRAN and can be used for solving a system of a set of partial differential equations coupled with a first-order reaction network. ART3D uses a novel analytic solution technique proposed by Clement. The new software includes options for performing Monte Carlo simulations and automated parameter estimation.     

Smart Interpretation – automatic geological interpretations based on supervised statistical models

A method that infers a statistical model, which describes a relation between the knowledge of a geologist (quantified by geological interpretations) and the available information (such as geophysical data, well log data, etc.) that a geologist uses when he/she interprets is proposed and tested. The statistical model is then used to perform automatic geological interpretations wherever the same kinds of information, as used for the initial interpretations, are available. This methodology is named Smart Interpretation (SI). In this study, we look at two different approaches to infer such a model, and we demonstrate the applicability of the model to predict the depth to a low resistivity subsurface layer, based on interpretations from a geological expert, using a 19-layered resistivity model obtained from inversion of airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data. This study shows that SI is capable of making predictions with great accuracy. The method is fast and is able to handle large amounts of data of different origin, which suggest that the method may become a very useful approach to assist in geological modeling based on increasingly large amounts of data of different nature.     

Is Climate Change Shifting the Poleward Limit of Mangroves?

Ecological (poleward) regime shifts are a predicted response to climate change and have been well documented in terrestrial and more recently ocean species. Coastal zones are amongst the most susceptible ecosystems to the impacts of climate change, yet studies particularly focused on mangroves are lacking. Recent studies have highlighted the critical ecosystem services mangroves provide, yet there is a lack of data on temporal global population response. This study tests the notion that mangroves are migrating poleward at their biogeographical limits across the globe in line with climate change. A coupled systematic approach utilising literature and land surface and air temperature data was used to determine and validate the global poleward extent of the mangrove population. Our findings indicate that whilst temperature (land and air) have both increased across the analysed time periods, the data we located showed that mangroves were not consistently extending their latitudinal range across the globe. Mangroves, unlike other marine and terrestrial taxa, do not appear to be experiencing a poleward range expansion despite warming occurring at the present distributional limits. Understanding failure for mangroves to realise the global expansion facilitated by climate warming may require a focus on local constraints, including local anthropogenic pressures and impacts, oceanographic, hydrological, and topographical conditions.     

Aerosol black carbon measurements in the Arctic haze during AGASP-II

During the second Arctic Gas and Aerosol Sampling Program conducted in April 1986, we performed measurements of the optically absorbing carbonaceous component of the ambient aerosol from the NOAA WP-3D aircraft operating between sea level and 10 km altitude. We collected the aerosol of filters that were exposed for several hours; we also operated the aethalometer to measure the concentration of aerosol black carbon in real time. The filter analyses represent averages over the altitude range and time span during which the filter was collecting. The real-time results were sorted by altitude to calculate vertical profiles of black carbon concentration. Values typically ranged from 300 to 500 ng m^–3 at lower altitudes, decreasing gradually to 25 to 100 ng m^–3 at 8–10 km. Strong stratification at lower altitudes was frequently observed. The magnitude of these concentrations suggests that the sources are distant regions of considerable fuel consumption. The presence of this material in the tropospheric column and its probable deposition to the high-albedo surface may result in perturbations of the solar radiation balance. The concentrations measured at the highest altitudes may mean that particulate carbon and accompanying emissions for which it is a tracer are mixing into the stratosphere.     

Behaviour of Fe-oxides relevant to contaminant uptake in the environment

The behaviour of Fe-oxides was investigated during precipitation and co-precipitation, phase transformation and dissolution, while their ability to adsorb and incorporate trace components was examined. Some samples were synthesised and studied under controlled laboratory conditions and other samples were taken from experiments designed to test the effectiveness of waste treatment strategies using iron. Surface-sensitive and high-resolution techniques were used to complement information gathered from classical, macroscopic methods.

Adsorption isotherms for Ni²⁺ uptake on synthetic ferrihydrite (Fe₅HO₈·4H₂O, often written simply Fe(OH)₃), goethite (-FeOOH), hematite (-Fe₂O₃) and magnetite (Fe₃O₄) were all similar, increasing as expected at higher pH. Desorption behaviour was also similar, but one third or more of the Ni²⁺ failed to return to solution. In the past, “irreversible sorption” has been blamed on uptake into micro-fractures or pores, but during examination (using Atomic force microscopy, AFM) of hundreds of Fe-oxide particles, no evidence for such features could be found, leading to the conclusion that Ni²⁺ must become incorporated onto or into the solids. When solutions of Fe(II) are oxidised in controlled laboratory conditions or during treatment of ash from municipal waste incinerators, two-line ferrihydrite forms rapidly and on never-dried samples, AFM shows abundant individual particles with diameter ranging from 0.5 to several tens of nanometers. Aging in solution at 70°C promotes growth of the particles into hematite and goethite and their identification (by X-ray powder diffraction, XRPD, with Rietveld refinement) becomes possible at the same aging stage as mineral morphology becomes recognisable by AFM. In other experiments that were designed to mimic natural attack by organic acids, colloidal lepidocrocite (γ-FeOOH) was observed in situ by AFM, while reductive dissolution removed material on specific crystal faces. Lath ends are eroded fastest while basal planes are more stable.

In order to help elucidate mechanisms of contaminant immobilisation by Fe-oxides, we examined samples from a reactive barrier made with 90% quartz sand, 5% bentonite and 5% zero-valent iron filings that had reacted with a solution typical of leachate from coal-burning fly ash using time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy (TOF-SIMS). Fe(0) oxidised to Fe(III), while soluble and toxic Cr(VI) was reduced to insoluble Cr(III). Chemical maps show Fe-oxide coatings on bentonite; Cr is associated with Fe-oxides to some extent but its association with Ca in a previously undescribed phase is much stronger. Other samples taken from municipal waste incinerator ash that had been treated by aeration in Fe(II) solutions were examined with transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Pb and some Zn are seen to be dispersed throughout two-line ferrihydrite aggregates, whereas Sn and some Zn are incorporated simply as a result of entrainment of individual ZnSn-oxide crystallites.

Geochemical speciation models that fail to account for contaminant uptake in solid solutions within major phases or as thin coatings or entrained crystals of uncommon phases such as those described here risk to underestimate contaminant retardation or immobilisation.     

东坪金矿“芥末金”及其类型

对中国河北东坪金 -碲化物型金矿的成分及性质复杂多样的金矿物的研究表明 ,东坪金矿产有由不同尺寸微粒金与碲酸盐 /亚碲酸盐 /含水氧化物组成的一些特殊的混合相 ,具芥末状或胶状结构 ,沿用“芥末金”之称。研究所获众多的分析数据得以对这些成分复杂的物质进行鉴别和分类。并按碲金矿蚀变模式 ,利用孔隙中充填的针铁矿、水硫碲铅石、绿碲铁矿、黄碲矿、黄碲铁石、碲酸等 (或一些未知混合相 )对铁芥末金、碲铅芥末金、碲铁芥末金、锰铅芥末金等各类型的化学组成及性质进行模式化。与前人资料进行了对比 ,对蔡长金、田澍章等描述过的金的碲酸盐或氧化物矿物做出了新的解释 ,提出其中某些未定名的新矿物应解释为芥末金的变种。根据电子能谱学数据推测 ,芥末金中可能存在金的纳米级团簇。