Release of mercury from intertidal sediment to atmosphere in summer and winter

The release of mercury from intertidal sediment to atmosphere was studied based on the simulated experiment. The experiment samples were collected from the Haibo Estuary (S1) and the Licun Estuary (S2) of the Jiaozhou Bay in China,which are seriously polluted with mercury. The results show that the mercury in sediment releases rapidly to atmosphere under solar radiation. After 8 hours of solar radiation,mercury concentrations decrease from 5.62 μg/g and 2.92 μg/g to 2.34 μg/g and 1.39 μg/g in S1 and S2 sediments respectively in summer,and decrease from 5.62 μg/g and 2.92 μg/g to 4.58 μg/g and 2.13 μg/g respectively in winter. The mercury species in the sediment change markedly under solar radiation. The concentrations of mercury bound to organic matter decrease significantly from 2.73 μg/g to 0.31 μg/g in S1 and from 2.07 μg/g to 0.31 μg/g in S2,and the released mercury mainly comes from mercury bound to organic matter. Mercury flux shows distinguishing characteristic of diurnal change,and it increases rapidly in the morning with the rising of solar radiation intensity,but decreases in the afternoon. The mercury flux increases with sediment temperature and solar radiation intensity. The rapid release of mercury in intertidal sediment plays an important role in the regional mercury cycle.     

Information geography: The information revolution reshapes geography

The information revolution has been one of the driving forces to the innovation in geography. However, environmental remote sensing, geographic information science and technology, and geocomputing, which once resided within the family of geography, are gradually moving close to information science but are alienated from geography. Therefore, it is necessary to reexamine the interactive convergence of geography and information science, and advance the disciplinary system of geographic science to accommodate the researches with information as subjects and methods. In this paper, we propose to reformulate the relationship between geographic science and information science with a new discipline, i.e., information geography, which not only refers to the geography of information but also a methodological system for studying geography using information science.This paper summarizes the background of information geography’s emergence, its definition, and the difference and similarities with other disciplinary concepts. The impact of information geography on geographic paradigm shift is also investigated from the ontological, epistemological, and methodological perspectives.     

Chemical characteristics of fine particles during spring dust storm dominant period in two Chinese cities, Baotou and Wuwei

Mineral dust, including dust storm, fugitive and floating dust are the most important components of ambient aerosol in northern China during spring. Meanwhile, it goes through heating period when fossil fuel combustion acts as a dominant source. In order to understand the chemical characteristics of fine particles in North China, two sampling sites was established in Baotou City in the west of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Wuwei City near the edge of Gobi to collect fine particles （PM 2.5） samples in the spring of 2004 and 2005, and analyze mass concentrations, ionic species and some element components of PM 2.5. The results indicated that dust events elevated the mass concentrations of particulate matter significantly, not only for coarse particles, but also for fine particles. Crustal components, organic matter and sulfates are three major compositions in fine particles, their mass concentrations and relative abundances are closely related with the frequency of dust events and coal combustion. The characteristics of fine particles are obviously diverse under different atmospheric conditions. （1） When the dust storms take place, the wind speeds are often higher than 10 m/s. A plenty of mineral aerosol is input from long distance, and also local soil dust is blown up to suspend in the air as particles. Therefore, the concentrations of PM 2.5 are enhanced dramatically. Mass concentrations and relative percentages of crustal components in PM 2.5 increased significantly during dust events. The mineral dust may help gas to particle conversation by heterogeneous reactions. Increases in mass concentrations of SO4^2-, NO3^- and NH4^＋ and organic matter in PM 2.5 were observed evidently. But their fractions in PM 2.5 do not increase simultaneously due to dilution of storing wind. （2） When wind velocity is lower （〈3 m/s）, air pollutants are accumulated, both mass concentrations of SO4^2-, NO3^- and NH4^＋ and organic matter, and their fractions in PM 2.5 increase, indicating severe anthropogenic pollution. The chemical characteristics of PM 2.5 in Baotou and Wuwei are also influenced by their industrial structure, topography and meteorological conditions.     

盲人夫妻的"光明之路"

"咦,真的舒服多了,肩颈也不怎么疼了,你的按摩技术真不错."近日,在信阳市固始县徐集乡中心卫生院理疗科,一位刚刚接受过按摩治疗的患者高兴地说道. 为患者按摩的李加华,是一位盲人,家住固始县徐集乡赵岗村.27年前,爱人丁昌侠因视神经萎缩失明.天有不测风云,2015年,患有先天性眼底病的李加华也突发眼疾,左眼失明,右眼视物...     

STUDY ON FLUXES OF CH4 EMISSION FROM PADDY FIELDS IN CHANGCHUN AREA

CH4 is a kind of important greenhouse gases in atmosphere. The current atmospheric concentration of CH4 is about 1.7ppmv and is increasing at almost 2％ per year. The sources of CH4 include paddies, wetland and tundra, insects, the digestive tracts of ruminants, coal mining, biomass burning, and the leakage of natural gas. The total input to the atmosphere lies in the range 300－ 550Tg per year. CH4 from paddy fields is about 10％ － 20％ of total source of atmospheric CH4 (DING, 1997). …     

Non-destructive γ spectrum analysis of polymetallic nodules from the eastern Pacific

Non-destructive 7 spectrum analyses of 20 polymetallic nodules from the eastern Pacificwere carried out. Numerous nuclides, such as 238U,230Th,226Ra,210Pb,228Ra,228Th,235U,227Ac (or 231 Pa) and 40K were detected. The count rates of the nuclides in the top or bottom side of nodules facing detector were measured and the ratio R of the count rates of nuclides in the top and the bottom sides was obtained. From counts and ratios, some useful information relating to the growth and movement of the nodules, the source of nuclide and relationship between those and environment can be gotten. A new method for clear distinction between the top and bottom sides of the nodule based on the R value of 226Ra or 210Pb was developed. In addition, one can infer the turnover of nodules according to the R value of 230Th.     

Variation of freshwater components in the Canada Basin during 1967–2010

As a conservative tracer, oxygen isotopes in seawater are widely used for water mass analysis, along with temperature and salinity. In this study, seawater oxygen-18 datasets in the Canada Basin during 1967–2010 were obtained from the four cruises of the Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition(1999, 2003, 2008, and 2010) and the NASA database. Fractions of sea ice meltwater and river runoff were determined from the salinity-18O system. Our results showed that the river runoff decreased from the south to the north in the Canada Basin. The enhanced amount of river runoff observed in the southern Canada Basin may originate from the Mackenzie River, transported by the Beaufort Gyre. The river runoff component showed maximum fractions during 1967–1969, 1978–1979, 1984–1985, 1993–1994, and 2008–2010, indicating the refresh time of the river runoff was 5.0–16.0 a in the Canada Basin. The temporal variation of the river runoff was related to the change of the Arctic Oscillation(AO) index, suggesting the freshwater stored in the Canada Basin was affected by surface sea ice drift and water mass movement driven by atmospheric circulation.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987110000125

<正>Carbonatites are commonly related to the accumulation of economically valuable substances such as REE.Cu,and P.The debate over the origin of carbonatites and their relationship to associated silicate rocks has been ongoing for about 45 years.Worldwide,the rocks characteristically display more geochemical enrichments in Ba,Sr and REE than sedimentary carbonate rocks.However,carbonatite's geochemical features are disputed because of secondary mineral effects.Rock-forming carbonates from carbonatites at Qinling.Panxi region,and Bayan Obo in China show REE distribution patterns ranging from LREE enrichment to flat patterns.They are characterized by a Sr content more than 10 times higher than that of secondary carbonates.The coarse- and fine-grained dolomites from Bayan Obo H8 dolomite marbles also show similar high Sr abundance,indicating that they are of igneous origin.Some carbonates in Chinese carbonatites show REE(especially HREE) contents and distribution patterns similar to those of the whole rocks.These intrusive carbonatites display lower platinum group elements and stronger fractionation between Pt and Ir relative to high-Si extrusive carbonatite.This indicates that most intrusive carbonatites may be carbonate cumulates.Maoniuping and Daluxiang in Panxi region are large REE deposits.Hydrothermal fluorite ore veins occur outside of the carbonatite bodies and are emplaced in wallrock syenite.The fiuorite in Maoniuping has Sr and Nd isotopes similar to carbonatite.The Daluxiang fiuorite shows Sr and REE compositions different from those in Maoniuping.The difference is reflected by both the carbonatites and rock-forming carbonates,indicating that REE mineralization is related to carbonatites.The cumulate processes of carbonate minerals make fractionated fluids rich in volatiles and LREE as a result of low partition coefficients for REE between carbonate and carbonatite melt and an increase from LREE to HREE.The carbonatite-derived fluid has interacted with wallrock to form REE ore veins.The amount of carbonatite dykes occurring near the Bayan Obo orebodies may support the same mineralization model,i.e.that fluids evolved from the carbonatite dykes reacted with H8 dolomite marble,and thus the different REE and isotope compositions of coarse- and fine-grained dolomite may be related to reaction processes.     

Reducing Influence of Gravity Model Error in Precise Orbit Determination of Low Earth Orbit Satellites

Based on the orbit integration and orbit fitting method, the influence of the characters of the gravity model, with different precisions, on the movement of low Earth orbit satellites was studied. The way and the effect of absorbing the influence of gravity model error on CHAMP and GRACE satellite orbits, using linear and periodical empirical acceleration models and the so-called "pseudo-stochastic pulses" model, were also analyzed.