Mercury mobility and bioavailability in soil from contaminated area

The mobility and bioavailability of mercury in the soil from the area near a plant using elemental mercury for manufacturing thermometers, areometers, glass energy switches and other articles made of technical glass has been evaluated. Mercury has been determined by sequential extraction method and with additional thermo desorption stage to determine elemental mercury. The procedure of sequential extraction involves five subsequent stages performed with the solutions of chloroform, deionized water, 0.5 M HCl, 0.2 M NaOH and aqua regia. The mean concentration of total mercury in soil was 147 ± 107 μg g⁻¹ dry mass (range 62–393), and the fractionation revealed that mercury was mainly bound to sulfides 56 ± 8% (range 45–66), one of the most biounavailable and immobile species of mercury in the environment. The fractions that brought lower contribution to the total mercury content were semi-mobile humic matter 22 ± 9% (range 11–34) and elemental mercury 17 ± 5% (range 8–23). The contributions brought by the highly mobile and toxic organomercury compounds were still lower 2.3 ± 2.7% (range 0.01–6.5). The lowest contributions brought the acid-soluble mercury 1.5 ± 1.3% (range 0.1–3.5) and water-soluble mercury 1.0 ± 0.3% (range 0.6–1.7). The surface layer of soil (0–20 cm) was characterized by higher mercury concentrations than that of the subsurface soil (60–80 cm), but the fractional contributions were comparable. The comparison of mercury fractionation results obtained in this study for highly polluted soils with results of fractionation of uncontaminated or moderately contaminated samples of soil and sediments had not shown significant statistical differences; however, in the last samples elemental mercury is usually present at very low concentrations. On the basis of obtained correlation coefficients it seems that elemental mercury soils from “Areometer” plant are contaminated; the main transformation is its vaporization to atmosphere and oxidation to divalent mercury, probably mainly mediated by organic matter, and next bound to humic matter and sulfides.     

The impact of the antenna phase center models on the coordinates in the EUREF Permanent Network

GPS Solutions - Precise positioning using the signals of the Global Position System requires correcting the distance between the points of reception of the signal carrier phase and the antenna...     

Iranian earthquakes, a uniform catalog with moment magnitudes

A uniform earthquake catalog is an essential tool in any seismic hazard analysis. In this study, an earthquake catalog of Iran and adjacent areas was compiled, using international and national databanks. The following priorities were applied in selecting magnitude and earthquake location: (a) local catalogs were given higher priority for establishing the location of an earthquake and (b) global catalogs were preferred for determining earthquake magnitudes. Earthquakes that have occurred within the bounds between 23–42° N and 42–65° E, with a magnitude range of M _W 3.5–7.9, from the third millennium BC until April 2010 were included. In an effort to avoid the “boundary effect,” since the newly compiled catalog will be mainly used for seismic hazard assessment, the study area includes the areas adjacent to Iran. The standardization of the catalog in terms of magnitude was achieved by the conversion of all types of magnitude into moment magnitude, M _W, by using the orthogonal regression technique. In the newly compiled catalog, all aftershocks were detected, based on the procedure described by Gardner and Knopoff (Bull Seismol Soc Am 64:1363–1367, 1974). The seismicity parameters were calculated for the six main tectonic seismic zones of Iran, i.e., the Zagros Mountain Range, the Alborz Mountain Range, Central Iran, Kope Dagh, Azerbaijan, and Makran.     

Generalized migration in frequency-wavenumber domain (MGF-K) in anisotropic media

In this paper, the background of MGF-K migration in dual domain (wavenumber-frequency K-F and space-time) in anisotropic media is presented. Algorithms for poststack (zero-offset) and prestack migration are based on downward extrapolation of acoustic wavefield by shift-phase with correction filter for lateral variability of medium’s parameters. In anisotropic media, the vertical wavenumber was determined from full elastic wavefield equations for two dimensional (2D) tilted transverse isotropy (TTI) model. The method was tested on a synthetic wavefield for TTI anticlinal model (zero-offset section) and on strongly inhomogeneous vertical transverse isotropy (VTI) Marmousi model. In both cases, the proper imaging of assumed media was obtained.     

Dynamics of multibody chains in circular orbit: non-integrability of equations of motion

This paper discusses the dynamics of systems of point masses joined by massless rigid rods in the field of a potential force. The general form of equations of motion for such systems is obtained. The dynamics of a linear chain of mass points moving around a central body in an orbit is analysed. The non-integrability of the chain of three masses moving in a circular Kepler orbit around a central body is proven. This was achieved thanks to an analysis of variational equations along two particular solutions and an investigation of their differential Galois groups.