Investigation and Remediation of a 1,2-Dichloroethane Spill Part II: Documentation of Natural Attenuation

A release of 1,2-dichloroethane. also known as ethylene dichloride (EDC), resulted in shallow subsurface freephase contamination of a Gulf Coast site in the southern United States. The site stratigraphy consists primarily of a low permeability, surficial peat. silt, and clay zone underlain by fractured clay; a confined 12 in deep sand ground water flow zone; a confined 21 m deep fine sand zone of limited ground water flow, followed by a deep aquitard. The Gumbo clay and sandy clay aquitard below the release area overlies and protects the 61 m deep Upper Chicot Aquifer, which is a confined regional aquifer. An ongoing recovery and hydraulic containment program from the primary impacted and laterally and vertically restricted shallow 40-foot sand zone has effectively recovered dense nonaqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) and contained dissolved phase EDC.
Natural attenuation of EDC was demonstrated through (1) a laboratory microcosm study substantiating the ability of the native microbial population in the deeper aquifer lo degrade EDC under anaerobic environmental conditions found at the site. (2) field investigations showing reductions in EDC concentrations over time in many of the wells on site, and (3) an evaluation of the ground water for EDC and its degradation products and oilier geo-chemical parameters such as dissolved oxygen, redox potential, and pH. Degradation products of EDC found in the field investigations included 2-chloroeihanol, ethanol. ethene, and ethane. Dissolved EDC concentrations in selected wells between the first recorded samples and the fourth quarter of 1997 ranged from greater than 4% to 99% reductions. First-order exponential decay half-lives ranged from 0.21 to 4.2 years for wells showing decreases in FDC concentrations over time. Elevated methane concentrations indicated carbon dioxide to be the major terminal electron acceptor.     

Stress–strain behaviour of a loosely compacted volcanic-derived soil and its significance to rainfall-induced fill slope failures

The stress–strain behaviour of a soil is crucial to the recognition of the mechanism of slope failure. Triaxial tests, composed of isotropically consolidated drained (ICD) and undrained compression (ICU) tests and anisotropically consolidated constant deviatoric stress path (CQD) tests, were carried out with the aim of investigating the stress–strain behaviour of loosely compacted volcanic-derived soils. The fact that the critical states are the same for ICU, ICD and CQD tests may show that the critical state is independent of the above three stress paths. The critical state line, as defined in critical state soil mechanics, is obtained from the e–log p′ and q–p′ plots based on the results of the above tests. The initial state of the consolidated specimens at initiation of failure may be classified as dilative or contractive in the light of the locations of the soil state relative to the critical state line. For contractional soils, the increased pore water pressure generated by rainfall infiltration leads to a contractive failure in a drained manner, giving rise to high excess pore water pressure. The excess pore water pressure caused by contraction cannot be dissipated instantly, resulting in a decrease in the shear resistance of the soil. The failure process is rapid. The failed soil mass is prone to flow after failure under the action of gravity due to its high moisture content and inflow of surface runoff and rainwater. For dilational soils, the increased pore water pressure resulting from infiltration leads to dilation, which reduces pore water pressure and thus increases the shear resistance of the soil. However, continued rainfall infiltration may be able to equilibrate the reduction in pore water pressure caused by dilation and, therefore, the dilation or displacement can continue. In Hong Kong, volcanic-derived soil is characterized by high permeability. Both the high permeability of volcanic-derived soil and a shallow failure surface make it possible for the reduction in pore pressure to equilibrate relatively quickly. Therefore, the failure is also rapid, at least for poorly compacted fill slopes.     

High-frequency near-bottom acoustic reflection signatures of hydrocarbon seeps on the Northern Gulf of Mexico continental slope

 Acoustic reflection signatures of four hydro-carbon seeps were classified using near-bottom 25-kHz echosounder profiles. Echo patterns were compared with ground-truth data obtained by submersible observations and shallow coring. Six echo types were distinguished: strong reflections from (1) exposed or (2) buried hard substrates, such as authigenic carbonate or gas hydrate; acoustic scattering in (3) unlayered or (4) layered sediments owing to gas, shells, or disseminated carbonates; (5) attenuation caused by gas; and (6) undisturbed sediments. Echo type distributions suggest that high spatial variability indicates a younger, vigorous seep, whereas extensive hard substrate implies an older, encrusted seep. Received: 29 May 1998 / Revision received: 7 October 1998     

Seasonal circulation in the southeastern Huanghai Sea

The seasonal circulation in the southeastern Huanghai Sea has been studied with hydrographic data,which were observed in February and June 1994 and bimonthly during 1970-1990,and numerical model results.Horiwntal distributions of temperature and salinity in 1994 are quite different due to strong tidal mixing so that we need a analysis to see the real distributions of water masses.The mixing ratio analysis with the data of 1970-1990 shows the connection of the waters in the west coasts of Kotea Peninsula with warm and saline waters from the south in summer,which means northward inflows along the west coasts of Korea Peninsula in summer.With this flow,the seasonal circulations,which are deduced from the seasonal change of water mass distributions in the lower layer,are warm inflows in winter and mld outflows in summer in the central Huanghai Sea,and cold outflows in winter and warm inflows in summer along the west coasts of Korea Peninsula.The seasonally changed inflows might be the Huanghai Sea Warm Current.The monsoon winds can drive such circulations.However,summer monsoon winds are weak and irregular.As one of other possible dynamics,the variation of Kuroshio transport is numerically studied with allowing sea level fluctuations.Although it should be studied more,it possibly drives the summer circulations.The real circulations seem to be driven by both of them.     

Peptide decomposition by extracellular hydrolysis in coastal seawater and salt marsh sediment

Extracellular peptide hydrolysis rates were measured in seawater and sediment from Flax Pond salt marsh using peptide analogs (LYA-peptides) as substrates. This technique allows the direct measurement of specific hydrolysis products and thus provides insights into enzymatic hydrolysis pathways. In sediments, hydrolysis rate constants of LYA-peptides varied seasonally and with depth. Highest activity was found in spring and summer, and most cores exhibited a subsurface maximum. Calculations using the concentrations of chemically-measured peptides suggested that extracellular hydrolysis of peptides is faster than the rate of free amino acids uptake. However, not all peptides may be available for enzymatic hydrolysis. In both seawater and sediment, extracellular hydrolysis of peptides of up to 8 amino acids yielded smaller peptides and free amino acids. Hydrolysis rates depended on size of the peptide substrate, although a clear relationship with number of amino acid constituents was not evident. Peptides containing >2 amino acids were hydrolyzed 10–400 times faster than dipeptides or the fluorogenic substrate Leucine-MCA. Thus, dipeptidases are either uncommon in nature, or hydrolysis is carried out by nonspecific hydrolases that with a low affinity for dipeptides. This is also suggested by the presence of a lag time before dipeptide hydrolysis begins, and the absence of dipeptide hydrolysis in 0.2-μm-filtered. One implication of this finding is that measurements of hydrolysis rates using substrates like Leu-MCA may not accurately predict the magnitude of hydrolysis rates of macromolecules in the marine environment. Even though dipeptide hydrolysis is slow compared to that of larger peptides, LYA-dipeptides are preferentially produced from the hydrolysis of larger substrates. LYA-dipeptides do not penetrate cell membranes of microorganisms because of their size, but natural dipeptides are smaller and can be transported across the cell membrane. Since dipeptides do not appear to accumulate in natural waters, they must be rapidly removed by microorganisms.     

TBT toxicity on the marine microalga Nannochloropsis oculata

Commercial antifouling formulations containing TBT are the major source of organotin contamination in coastal waters. In view of the persisting TBT residues (13 ng Sn l⁻¹) in the coastal waters of South Korea, an attempt has been made to evaluate the growth response and biochemical composition of laboratory-cultured Nannochloropsis oculata to TBT toxicity. It is evident that the persisting concentration level of TBT is high enough to cause adverse effect on the microalgal species. The EC₅₀ (24 h) was found to be at 0.89 nM level of TBT for this marine eustigmatophyte N. oculata. Photosynthetic pigment content was significantly affected. At elevated TBT concentrations of 1.0 nM, especially pronounced changes in biochemical composition was found. TBT tolerance of N. oculata and its growth as well as biochemical responses are discussed.     

Ground motion characteristics of the Chi‐Chi earthquake of 21 September 1999

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the ground motion characteristics of the Chi‐Chi earthquake (21 September 1999) as well as the interpretation of structural damage due to this earthquake. Over 300 strong motion records were collected from the strong motion network of Taiwan for this earthquake. A lot of near‐field ground motion data were collected. They provide valuable information on the study of ground motion characteristics of pulse‐like near‐field ground motions as well as fault displacement. This study includes: attenuation of ground motion both in PGA and spectral amplitude, principal direction, elastic and inelastic response analysis of a SDOF system subjected to near‐field ground motion collected from this event. The distribution of spectral acceleration and spectral velocity along the Chelungpu fault is discussed. Based on the mode decomposition method the intrinsic mode function of ground acceleration of this earthquake is examined. A long‐period wave with large amplitude was observed in most of the near‐source ground acceleration. The seismic demand from the recorded near‐field ground motion is also investigated with an evaluation of seismic design criteria of Taiwan Building Code. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modified state–space procedures for pseudodynamic testing

The existing on‐line numerical integration algorithms are derived from the Newmark method, which is based on an approximation of derivatives in the differential equation. The state–space procedure (SSP), based on an interpolation of the discrete excitation signals for piecewise convolution integral, has been confirmed as more reliable than the Newmark method in terms of numerical accuracy and stability. In an attempt to enhance the pseudodynamic test, this study presents an on‐line integration algorithm (referred to as the OS–SSP method) via an integration of the state–space procedure with Nakashima's operator‐splitting concept. Numerical stability and accuracy assessment of the proposed algorithm in addition to the explicit Newmark method and the OS method were investigated via an eigenvalue, frequency‐domain and time‐domain analysis. Of the on‐line integration algorithms investigated, the OS–SSP method is demonstrated as the most accurate method with an acceptable stability (although not unconditionally stable) characteristic. Therefore, the OS–SSP method is the most desirable method for pseudodynamic testing if the numerical stability criterion (Δt/T⩽0.5) is ensured for every vibration mode involved. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Quantitative analysis of the impact of droughts and floods on internal wars in China over the last 500 years

Although many large-N quantitative studies have evidenced the adverse effects of climatic extremes on social stability in China during the historical period, most of them rely on temperature and precipitation as major explanatory variables, while the influence of floods and droughts on social crises is rarely measured. Furthermore, a comparison of the climate-society nexus among different geographic regions and at different temporal scales is missing in those studies. To address this knowledge gap,this study examines quantitatively the influence of floods and droughts on internal wars in three agro-ecological(rice, wheat,and pastoral) regions in China in AD1470–1911. Poisson regression and wavelet transform coherence analyses are applied to allow for the non-linear and non-stationary nature of the climate-war nexus. Results show that floods and droughts are significant in driving internal wars in historical China, but are characterized by strong regional variation. In the rice region, floods trigger internal wars at the inter-annual and multi-decadal time scales. In the wheat region, both floods and droughts cause internal wars at the inter-annual and multi-decadal time scales. In the pastoral region, internal wars are associated with floods only at the multi-decadal time scale. In addition, the multi-decadal coherence between hydro-climatic extremes and internal wars in all three of the agro-ecological regions is only significant in periods in which population density is increasing or the upper limit of regional carrying capacity is being reached. The above results imply that the climate-war nexus is mediated by regional geographic factors such as physical environmental setting and population pressure. Hence, we encourage researchers who study the historical human-climate relationship to boil down data according to geographic regions in the course of statistical analysis and to examine each region individually in follow-up studies.     

Evaluation of Hydraulic Properties of Aquitards Using Earthquake‐Triggered Groundwater Variation

The hydraulic properties of aquitards are not easily obtained because monitoring wells are usually installed in aquifers for groundwater resources management. Earthquake‐induced crust stress (strain) triggers groundwater level variations over a short period of time in a large area. These groundwater anomalies can be used to investigate aquifer systems. This study uses a poroelastic model to fit the postseismic variations of groundwater level triggered by the Chi‐Chi earthquake to evaluate the hydraulic properties of aquitards in the Jhoushuei River alluvial fan (JRAF), Taiwan. Six of the adopted eight wells with depths of 70 to 130 m showed good agreement with the recovery theory. The mean hydraulic conductivities (K) of the aquifers for the eight wells are 1.62 × 10^?4 to 9.06 × 10^?4 m/s, and the thicknesses are 18.8 to 46.1 m. The thicknesses of the aquitards are 11.3 to 42.0 m. Under the isotropic assumption for K, the estimated values of K for the aquitards are 3.0 × 10^?8 to 2.1 × 10^?6 m/s, corresponding to a silty medium. The results match the values obtained for the geological material of the drilling core and those reported in previous studies. The estimated values were combined with those given in previous studies to determine the distribution of K in the first two aquitards in the JRAF. The distribution patterns of the aquitards reflect the sedimentary environments and fit the geological material. The proposed technique can be used to evaluate the K value of aquitards using inverse methods. The inversion results can be used in hydrogeological analyses, contaminant modeling, and subsidence evaluation.