Synergistic effect of calcium and bicarbonate in enhancing arsenate release from ferrihydrite

Many groundwater systems contain anomalously high arsenic concentrations, associated with less than expected retention of As by adsorption to iron (hydr)oxides. Although carbonates are ubiquitous in aquifers, their relationship to arsenate mobilization is not well characterized. This research examines arsenate release from poorly crystalline iron hydroxides in abiotic systems containing calcium and magnesium with bicarbonate under conditions of static and dynamic flow (pH 7.5-8). Aqueous arsenic levels remained low when arsenate-bearing ferrihydrite was equilibrated with artificial groundwater solution containing Ca, Mg, and HCO₃⁻. In batch titrations in which a solution of Ca and HCO₃⁻ was added repeatedly, the ferrihydrite surface became saturated with adsorbed Ca and HCO₃⁻, and aqueous As levels increased by 1-2 orders of magnitude. In columns containing Ca or Mg and HCO₃⁻, As solubility initially mimicked titrations, but then rapidly increased by an additional order of magnitude (reaching 12 μM As). Separately, calcium chloride and other simple salts did not induce As release, although sodium bicarbonate and lactate facilitated minor As release under flow. Results indicate that adsorption of calcium or magnesium with bicarbonate leads to As desorption from ferrihydrite, to a degree greater than expected from competitive effects alone, especially under dynamic flow. This desorption may be an important mechanism of As mobilization in As-impacted, circumneutral aquifers, especially those undergoing rapid mineralization of organic matter, which induces calcite dissolution and the production of dissolved calcium and bicarbonate.     

Exploring fishing dependence in gulf coast communities

Two unrelated data sources (quantitative secondary data and qualitative primary data) and mixed methodologies (statistical analysis and ethnography) are used to define the concept of, and develop indicators for, fishing dependence. Techniques for integrating differing data sources are developed. Comparisons of the qualitative rankings with the quantitative rankings were, overall, positive and statistically significant. The process used thus confirmed that the indicators were reliable measures for fishing dependence. In terms of external validity and triangulation, the process used was more rigorous than using ethnography “after-the-fact” to ground-truth the quantitative indicators.     

Seismic excitation of the polar motion, 1977–1993

The mass redistribution in the earth as a result of an earthquake faulting changes the earth's inertia tensor, and hence its rotation. Using the complete formulae developed byChao andGross (1987) based on the normal mode theory, we calculated the earthquake-induced polar motion excitation for the largest 11,015 earthquakes that occurred during 1977.0–1993.6. The seismic excitations in this period are found to be two orders of magnitude below the detection threshold even with today's high precision earth rotation measurements. However, it was calculated that an earthquake of only one tenth the size of the great 1960 Chile event, if happened today, could be comfortably detected in polar motion observations. Furthermore, collectively these seismic excitations have a strong statistical tendency to nudge the pole towards 140°E, away from the actually observed polar drift direction. This non-random behavior, similarly found in other earthquake-induced changes in earth rotation and low-degree gravitational field byChao andGross (1987), manifests some geodynamic behavior yet to be explored.     

Shock metamorphism and shock barometry at a complex impact structure: Slate Islands, Canada

The Slate Islands archipelago is believed to represent the central uplifted portion of a complex impact structure. Planar microstructures in quartz and feldspars and shock vitrification of rocks are the most common shock metamorphic features encountered. No diaplectic quartz was identified in the exposed rocks, but minor maskelynite is present. Shatter cones occur on all islands of the archipelago suggesting minimum pressures of 4 ± 2 GPa. The relative frequency of low index planar microstructures of specific, optically determined crystallographic orientations in quartz are correlated with results from shock barometric experiments to estimate peak shock pressures experienced by the exposed target rocks. In general, there is a decrease in shock pressure recorded in the target rocks from about 20–25 GPa in east-central Patterson Island to about 5–10 GPa at the western shore of this island and on Mortimer Island. The shock attenuation gradient is ∼4.5 GPa/km across this section of the island group. However, the shock attenuation has a roughly concentric plan only over the western part of the archipelago. There is no distinct shock center and there are other deviations from circularity. This is probably the result of: (1) the shock wave not having expanded from a point or spherical source because of the ∼1. 0 to 1.5 km size of the impactor; (2) differential movement of large target rock blocks during the central uplift and crater modification phases of the impact process. The orientation of planar deformation features in quartz appears to be independent of the shock wave direction suggesting that crystal structure exerts the primary control on microstructure development. Based on the results of XRD analyses, residual, post-impact temperatures were high enough to cause annealing of submicroscopic damage in shocked quartz. Received: 15 July 1997 / Accepted: 6 October 1997     

Correction to: Microphysics and Optical Attenuation in Fog: Observations from Two Coastal Sites

Boundary-Layer Meteorology -     

Diverse Responses of Phenology in Multi-Grassland to Environmental Factors on Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau in China

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - Studying grassland vegetation growing seasons’ spatial patterns and their environmental controls are crucial to promoting vegetation ecological...     

Operational Altimeter Data Processing for Mesoscale Monitoring

Since 1996, global, near-real-time maps of mesoscale anomalies derived from tandem sampling provided by altimeters aboard the TOPEX/Poseidon and ERS-2 satellites have been posted on web pages hosted at the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research. The original, near-real-time processing system was based on a quick-look analysis that referenced the data to a high-resolution gridded mean sea surface available at the time. Recently, state-of-the-art mean sea surfaces have been derived that are based on a more complete record of altimeter observations. An updated mesoscale monitoring system based on a new mean surface is described and shown to provide improved mesoscale monitoring to the successful system implemented in 1996.     

Rationalizing tax increment financing in Chicago

A central problem in planning is how planners can be both technical experts and political actors sensitive to the moral consequences of planning. Rationality refers to the reasons for choosing a means to achieve an end; a rationality that considers the morality of means and ends is value rationality, and one that does not is instrumental rationality. Through the case of using Tax Increment Financing (TIF) to subsidize corporate headquarters relocation in Chicago, I follow City follows planners’ struggle with TIF policy and their engagement with instrumental and value rationality within a state that exercised an entrepreneurial planning strategy. This position meant that planners were constrained from acting value-rationally to consider and then take action on questions about the moral content of TIF projects. Nonetheless, planning staff developed an instrumentally-rational planning and policy exercise, which they performed as a way to channel their value-rational concerns about the assumption that every economic development project is an unambiguously valuable goal.