Surveying Upstate NY Well Water for Pesticide Contamination: Cayuga and Orange Counties

Private wells in Cayuga and Orange counties in New York were sampled to determine the occurrence of pesticide contamination of groundwater in areas where significant pesticide use coincides with shallow or otherwise vulnerable groundwater. Well selection was based on local groundwater knowledge, risk modeling, aerial photo assessments, and pesticide application database mapping. Single timepoint samples from 40 wells in each county were subjected to 93‐compound chromatographic scans. All samples were nondetects (reporting limits ≤1 μg/L), thus no wells from either county exceeded any of 15 state groundwater standards or guidance values. More sensitive enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) found two wells with quantifiable atrazine in each county (0.1–0.3 μg/L), one well with quantifiable diazinon (0.1 μg/L) in Orange County, and one well with quantifiable alachlor (0.2 μg/L) in Cayuga County. Trace detections (<0.1 μg/L) in Cayuga County included atrazine (five wells), metolachlor (six wells), and alachlor (one well), including three wells with multiple detections. All 12 Cayuga County wells with ELISA detections had either corn/grain or corn/forage rotations as primary surrounding land uses (although 20 other wells with the same land uses had no detections) and all quantified detections and most trace detections occurred in wells up to 9‐m deep. Orange County trace (<0.1 μg/L) ELISA detections (atrazine three wells, diazinon one well, and metolachlor five wells) and quantified detections were only generally associated with agricultural land uses. Finding acceptable drinking water quality in areas of vulnerable groundwater suggests that water quality in less vulnerable areas will also be good.     

阿德朗达克-西魁北克地震带地壳三维速度结构成像

根据在阿德朗达克-西魁北克地震带及其邻近地区的59台短周期数字地震仪记录的直达P波走时观测值,用地震层析成像方法反演了该地区地壳三维速度结构.结果表明,地壳上层（0-5km）在阿德朗达克穹隆山的中南部地区出现正速度异常;第二层（5-10km）及第三层（10-15km）的速度横向变化较小,介质相对比较均匀;第四层（15-25km）出现显著的速度异常,一个是位于地震带中部的正速度异常（+4％）,它与布格重力正异常一致;另一个是位于阿德朗达克穹隆山下的负速度异常（-4％）.结合已有的地质及地球物理资料进行对比,可以认为阿德朗达克是一个正在发展的穹隆上升山,但其热源前锋尚未到达地面的大陆热点.     

Hydro-mechanical evaluation of stabilized mine tailings

. In this study, mine tailings waste was stabilized using a combination of lime, fly ash type "C", and aluminum. Treated samples were subjected to mineral identification for evaluating the formation of ettringite and gypsum. Also, unconfined compression, hydraulic conductivity, and cyclic freeze and thaw tests were performed to evaluate the hydro-mechanical properties of the stabilized samples. Experimental results have shown that the application of lime and fly ash type "C" to high sulfate content tailings has improved its plasticity, workability, and volume stability. Moreover, upon addition of aluminum to lime and fly ash in a sulfate-rich environment, ettringite and calcium sulfo-aluminate hydrate are formed in these samples. Application of 5% lime, 10% fly ash type "C", in combination with 110 ppm aluminum, resulted in the formation of a solid monolith capable of producing more than 1,000 kPa of unconfined compressive strength, and reduced tailings permeability to 1.96᎒^–6 cm s^–1, which is less than the recommended permeability of 10^–5 cm s^–1 by most environmental protection agencies for reusability of solidified/stabilized samples. The permeability of the treated tailings samples remained below the recommended permeability, even after exposing the treated samples to 12 freeze and thaw cycles. Therefore, based on the experimental results, it is concluded that treatment of high sulfate-content tailings with lime and fly ash, combined with the availability of aluminum for reactions, is a successful method of solidifying highly reactive mine tailings.     

Mean wind-direction shear through a forest canopy

The equations of motion applying to the wind field in a forest canopy are simplified to a balance between the shearing stress gradient and either the form-drag of the leaves in the upper dense canopy, or the overall horizontal pressure gradient in the more open space beneath. The equations imply that, in descending through the forest, the stress and wind vectors turn through an angle which depends on the forest characteristics and on the stability and the speed of the airflow above the forest. The turning is roughly confirmed by an overall average measured on a very flat site near Thetford, Norfolk, covered by an extensive uniform pine forest.     

Preliminary report on radionuclide concentrations in the bottom waters at the entrance of Wakasa Bay with special reference to the Japan Sea Proper Water

Marked fluctuation of concentrations of⁹⁰Sr and¹³⁷Cs was observed in the bottom waters at the entrance of Wakasa Bay during 1987–1992, and the cause was investigated. The concentrations of⁹⁰Sr and¹³⁷Cs in the bottom waters were significantly low when the upper level of the Japan Sea Proper Water (JSPW) was high and covered the sampling depth, but high when the upper level of the JSPW was low. The cause of the fluctuation observed in the bottom waters is, therefore, suggested to be the vertical fluctuation of the upper level of the JSPW on the shelf slope, which has been little described before.     

Global high resolution versus Limited Area Model climate change projections over Europe: quantifying confidence level from PRUDENCE results

Four high resolution atmospheric general circulation models (GCMs) have been integrated with the standard forcings of the PRUDENCE experiment: IPCC-SRES A2 radiative forcing and Hadley Centre sea surface temperature and sea-ice extent. The response over Europe, calculated as the difference between the 2071–2100 and the 1961–1990 means is compared with the same diagnostic obtained with nine Regional Climate Models (RCM) all driven by the Hadley Centre atmospheric GCM. The seasonal mean response for 2m temperature and precipitation is investigated. For temperature, GCMs and RCMs behave similarly, except that GCMs exhibit a larger spread. However, during summer, the spread of the RCMs—in particular in terms of precipitation—is larger than that of the GCMs. This indicates that the European summer climate is strongly controlled by parameterized physics and/or high-resolution processes. The temperature response is larger than the systematic error. The situation is different for precipitation. The model bias is twice as large as the climate response. The confidence in PRUDENCE results comes from the fact that the models have a similar response to the IPCC-SRES A2 forcing, whereas their systematic errors are more spread. In addition, GCM precipitation response is slightly but significantly different from that of the RCMs.     

Historical trends of mercury and spheroidal carbonaceous particle deposition in sub-alpine lakes in the Great Basin,United States

The geochemistry of lake sediments was used to identify anthropogenic factors influencing aquatic ecosystems of sub-alpine lakes in the western United States during the past century. Sediment cores were recovered from six high-elevation lakes in the central Great Basin of the United States. The proxies utilized to examine the degree of recent anthropogenic environmental change include spheroidal carbonaceous particle (SCP), mercury (Hg), and sediment organic content estimated using loss-on-ignition. Chronologies for the sediment cores, developed using ²¹⁰Pb, indicate the cores span the twentieth century. Mercury flux varied between lakes but all exhibited increasing fluxes during the mid-twentieth century. The mean ratio of modern (post-A.D. 1985) to preindustrial (pre-A.D. 1880) Hg flux was 5.2, which is comparable to the results from previous studies conducted in western North America. Peak SCP flux for all lakes occurred between approximately A.D. 1940 and A.D. 1970, after which time the SCP flux was greatly reduced. The reduction in SCP input is likely due to better controls on combustion sources. Measured Hg concentrations and calculated sedimentation rates suggest atmospheric Hg flux increased in the early 1900s, from A.D. 1920 to A.D. 1990, and at present. Atmospheric deposition is the primary source of the anthropogenic inputs of Hg and SCPs to these high elevation lakes. The input of SCPs, which is largely driven by regional sources, has declined with the implementation of national pollution control regulations. Mercury deposition in the Great Basin has most likely been influenced more by regional inputs.