Phytoremediation of soil contaminated by heavy oil with plants colonized by mycorrhizal fungi

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of phytoremediation on soils contaminated with heavy crude oil using plants infected by mycorrhizal fungi. Five plant species, Vetiveria zizanioides, Bidens pilosa, Chloris barbata, Eleusine indica, and Imperata cylindrica, infected with the species of mycorrhizal fungi Glomus mosseae, were selected for this study. The degradation of total petroleum hydrocarbons in soils and several physiological parameters of plants such as shoot length and biomass were analyzed. Out of the 5 plant species tested, only V. zizanioides, B. pilosa, and E. indica could take up the G. mosseae. Out of these three, V. zizanioides showed the greatest growth (biomass) in soils with 100,000 mg kg^?1 total petroleum hydrocarbons. In addition, B. pilosa infected with G. mosseae was found to be able to increase degradation by 9 % under an initial total petroleum hydrocarbons concentration of 30,000 mg kg^?1 in soils after 64 days. We conclude that plants infected with mycorrhizal fungi can enhance the phytoremediation efficiency of soils contaminated with high concentrations of heavy oil.     

EH4连续电导率仪在陕西省镇安县金龙山矿区控矿构造研究中的应用

陕西省镇安县金龙山金矿是产于南秦岭印支褶皱带中的微细浸染型金矿,上泥盆统南羊山组(D3n)细碎屑岩-碳酸盐岩既是金龙山矿区的容矿地层,又是金等成矿物质的矿源层。金矿脉的产出主要受断裂构造控制,尤其NE向的断裂构造控制了金龙山金矿绝大多数的矿脉产出。在金龙山金矿区金龙山矿段106号金矿脉应用EH4连续电导率仪成功区分出了两种不同的岩性,并识别出了3条与成矿有关的断裂构造。测区内灰岩表现为高阻异常特征,页岩表现为低阻异常特征。近EW走向的断裂构造Fa为测区内规模最大的断裂构造,深部延伸较深;NE向的断裂构造Fb与Fc近平行产出,并且深部均与Fa交汇,其中Fb为106号金矿脉所处断裂构造,而Fc为测区内一条锑矿脉所处的断裂构造。Fa断裂与区域上EW走向的深大断裂倾向一致,为SN向推覆过程中形成的,在成矿过程中为成矿热液提供运移通道;NE向断裂Fb与Fc具有容矿条件,推测应为张性断裂。     

Ethnic enterprises and community development

Ethnic enterprises are growing rapidly in urban areas across the United States. Anecdotal evidence from around the country reports many success stories of how ethnic businesses transform communities; however, researchers have not provided a systematic review of the role of ethnic businesses in community developing. In practice, ethnic businesses have not been formally incorporated in local planning and development process. This article provides a systematic review of the multi-faceted ways ethnic businesses contribute to community building and neighborhood development. In addition to surveying the current literature, we also chose three communities for a focused review: Buford Highway in Atlanta, Monterey Park in Los Angeles, and Sunset Park in New York. A framework is developed to evaluate the economic, physical, social/cultural, and political effects that ethnic businesses exert on communities. We find that ethnic businesses can serve local economic interests and community-level cohesion and accrue economic, social, physical, and political benefits to their respective communities. These include serving the unmet market needs of certain neighborhoods and households, creating job opportunities and generating revenues, revitalizing and fueling the commercial development of abandoned communities, organizing and promoting social life and cultural diversity, as well as contributing their collective interest and voice in local communities. We argue that ethnic businesses should be better incorporated into urban policies in community economic development.     

Landsliding triggered by reservoir operation: a general conceptual model with a case study at Three Gorges Reservoir

The Three Gorge Reservoir, one of the largest civil engineering projects in human history, dams the Yangtze River to form a 660-km-long and 1.13-km-wide reservoir. Today, although the project has been completed and is in normal operation, the on-going landslide initiation and movement in response to the reservoir operating is one of the main geologic hazards. The Huangtupo (meaning “yellow soil slope” in Chinese) Slope typifies such on-going landslides along the reservoir. Observations from a multi-year monitoring program conducted on this slope indicate that there are multiple slides on the reservoir banks that move episodically into the reservoir and their movements appear to be highly correlated with the initial and seasonal changes in the reservoir pool level. A hydro-mechanical numerical model is constructed to investigate the quantitative links among the episodic movements and the variations in pore water pressure, suction stress, hydrostatic reservoir water loading, and slope self-weight induced by the fluctuating water levels. Modeling results identify regions within the variably saturated slope where significant changes in stress occur during the periods of the initial impoundment that raised water levels from 68 to 135 m and that occur in response to seasonal fluctuations of the reservoir pool level between 145 and 175 m. We find that the rise or decline of reservoir pool level can either increase or decrease the stability of landslide. In general, hydrostatic reservoir water loading has positive correlation with the stability; pore water pressure and suction stress have negative correlation with the stability; and the effects of slope self-weight depend on the dip angle and mechanical properties of sliding surface.     

Applying image recording and identification for measuring water stages to prevent flood hazards

Information on river stages can be transmitted to relevant management offices over a network by using an automatic stage gauge so that management offices can effectively evaluate whether a river stage is exceeding the warning line and take action if necessary. However, current river stage measurement methods can present this information only in data form because the methods cannot simultaneously obtain images such as the rising or overflow of the river stage. In addition, the stage gauge can fail or be washed away when the river stage is high. To solve these problems, this research evaluates a novel measurement method involving a video surveillance system that exhibits features such as easy installation, low maintenance cost, and low failure possibility. Through on-site image recording, this measurement method involves using image identification technology to read water level figures automatically. This method offers instant river stage figures and on-site video so that disaster prevention measures can be implemented accordingly. The results of a dynamic water flow test conducted in an indoor experimental channel indicated that all of the average absolute error levels of river stage identification were less than ±1.2 %, meaning that the image identification technology could achieve identification results at any flow level. By contrast, the findings of a rainfall simulation experiment suggest that the average absolute error of river stage identification was less than ±2.5 %, meaning that the measurement technology and method used in this research are useful and feasible at various rainfall intensities.     

黑龙江平顶山金矿赋矿花岗岩锆石U-Pb年龄、Hf同位素特征及其地质意义

平顶山金矿床位于佳木斯地块与松嫩地块的衔接处北端,地处中亚造山带的东段。前人对该矿床的岩(矿)石物理化学特征及地质特征已进行了研究,但对与成矿密切相关的花岗岩缺乏系统的岩石学、地球化学和高精度年代学等方面的研究。本次研究通过锆石的LA-ICP-MS U-Pb定年、Hf同位素示踪以及全岩的主、微量元素测试,探讨了平顶山金矿区赋矿花岗岩的源区特征、形成机制和构造背景。矿区花岗岩包括早期的浅色中粒二长花岗岩和稍晚期的细粒黑云母二长花岗岩,两期花岗岩的锆石U-Pb年龄分别为271.7±2.3 Ma和249.8±3.3Ma,对应的εHf(t)为-4.17～-0.58和-4.98～-0.49,两阶段平均模式年龄tDM2分别为1432 Ma、1457Ma,原始岩浆可能来源于中元古代增生的壳源物质的重熔。两期花岗岩均以高碱(Na2O+K2O)、富Al2O3、富集LREE和LILE(Rb、Ba、Th、U和K)、低MgO、贫HREE和HFSE(Nb、Ta、P和Ti)为特征,属高钾钙碱性系列的准铝质/过铝质I型花岗岩,代表了火山弧-同碰撞环境。结合中亚造山带东段构造演化历史,我们认为平顶山金矿的花岗岩可能是古亚洲洋向北俯冲、闭合、华北克拉通与佳-蒙陆块碰撞产物。     

Probabilistic Inverse Analysis of Excavation-Induced Wall and Ground Responses for Assessing Damage Potential of Adjacent Buildings

This paper presents an approach for the probabilistic inverse analysis of braced excavations based on the maximum likelihood formulation. Here, the soil parameters are updated using the observations of the maximum ground settlement and/or the maximum wall deflection measured in a staged excavation. The updated soil parameters are then used to refine the predicted wall and ground responses in the subsequent excavation stages, as well as to assess the building damage potential at the final excavation stage. Case study shows that the proposed approach is effective in improving the predictions of the excavation-induced wall and ground responses. More-accurate predictions of the wall and ground responses, in turn, lead to a more accurate assessment of the damage potential of buildings adjacent to the excavation. The proposed approach offers an effective means for a probabilistic inverse analysis of braced excavations.     

Field experiments and numerical simulations of whirlpool foundation pit dewatering

A whirlpool foundation pit is a small-diameter, deep circular pit. Because of its depth and small diameter, a large drawdown is required, and a limited number of wells can be installed inside the pit. During excavation, partially penetrating wells inside and outside the foundation pit have to be installed to lower the water level when the aquifer is too thick. However, partially penetrating wells near partially penetrating curtains cannot be treated by analytical methods. Therefore, it is necessary to use numerical methods to predict dewatering during excavation. Field experiments were performed on whirlpool foundation pit 1880 of Baosteel Group, Shanghai, China, to obtain pumping rates and drawdown, pumping with a single well and two wells in the confined aquifer. The results indicate that the drawdown inside the pit induced by pumping wells outside the foundation pit was small, whereas it was large for pumping wells inside the pit. The pumping wells inside and outside the pit had to be combined to lower the water level. A three-dimensional numerical model was developed to simulate the dewatering process. The hydraulic conductivities of the confined aquifers were inversed by using the pumping tests. Operation schedules were simulated with the corrected model for different combinations of wells inside and outside the pit. The results suggest that different schedules and operation conditions affect drawdown. The monitored results during dewatering indicate that the simulation and field measurements were in agreement. The results can be applied to similar situations.     

Influences of mulching durations on soil erosion and nutrient losses in a peanut (Arachis hypogaea)-cultivated land

Plastic film mulching is widely employed to improve crop yields. Mulching for the entire crop growth period is a widespread practice. However, a shorter plastic film mulching duration is suggested for obtaining larger grain yield recently. To quantify the effects of plastic film mulching durations on soil erosion and nutrient losses, a three-treatment experiment with three replicates was constructed in field. The designed treatments were control (M0, non-mulched treatment), mulching from sowing to the end of the peanut pod-setting stage (M1) and pod-filling stage (M2). Plastic film mulching significantly increased the mean runoff and sediment yield. With film mulching, the mean runoff and soil losses among M1 and M2 treatments had no significant difference, and significantly larger than that in M0 treatment. After mulching removing, there were no significant differences between the mean runoff and soil losses of M0 and M1 treatments. Compared with the M2 treatment, the M0 treatment had significantly reduced mean runoff and soil losses of all the events. Non-mulching increased the total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) losses. The M0 treatment had the highest TN (23.0 mg m^?2) and TP (3.02 mg m^?2) losses in the three treatments. The M2 treatment significantly reduced the TN and TP losses. In conclusion, mulching from sowing to the end of pod-setting stage was suggested as the appropriate choice for the largest yield and less soil erosion. But, some soil conservation measurements should be taken in furrow areas to effectively reduce soil erosion, under the condition of film mulching.     

Calcified roasting-acid leaching process of vanadium from low-grade vanadium-containing stone coal

The low-grade vanadium-containing stone coal used in this experiment was collected from Wuxi Coun- try, Chongqing City, China. The experiment focused on the vanadium recovery from roasted residue through opti- mizing the process conditions of an effective and environmentally-friendly technology, named calcified roast- ing-sulfuric acid leaching technology. By single-factor experiments and orthogonal experiments, the effects of roast- ing temperature, roasting time, sulfuric acid concentration and leaching time on the leaching ratio of vanadium were analyzed. The results showed that the leaching ratio of vanadium reached 85.5% under the proper technological con- ditions of roasting temperature=950℃, roasting time=4 h, 40% concentration of sulfuric acid and leaching time=6 h.