FINDING CAUSES OF OUTLIERS IN MULTIVARIATE ENVIRONMENTAL DATA

Multivariate outliers in environmental data sets are often caused by atypical measurement error in a singlevariable.From a quality assurance perspective it is important to identify these variables efficiently so thatcorrective actions may be performed.We demonstrate a procedure for using two multivariate tests toidentify which variable‘caused’each outlier.The procedure is tested with simulated data sets that havethe same correlation structure as selected water chemistry variables from a survey of lakes in the WesternUnited States.The success rates are evaluated for three of the variables for sample sizes of 50 and 100,significance levels of 0.01 and 0.05 and various amounts of mean shift.The procedure works best forhighly correlated variables.     

Heavy metal contamination in western Xiamen Bay sediments and its vicinity, China

Concentrations of selected heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, Cr, Ni and Fe) in surface sediments from nine sites in western Xiamen Bay and its vicinity were studied in order to understand current metal contamination due to urbanization and economic development in Xiamen, China. The sediment samples were collected in December 2004 and July 2005 respectively in order to examine temporal variations. In this study, we found that heavy metal concentrations in surface sediments sampled in the western Xiamen Bay and adjacent Maluan Bay and Yuandang Lagoon varied from 19 to 97mg kg(-1) for Cu, 45 to 60mg kg(-1) for Pb, 65 to 223mg kg(-1) for Zn, 0.11 to 1.01mg kg(-1) for Cd, 37 to 134mg kg(-1) for Cr, 25 to 65mg kg(-1) for Ni and 3.08 to 4.81% for Fe. Although all metal concentrations in sediments meets Chinese National Standard Criteria for Marine Sediment Quality, both metal enrichment factors (EF) and geoaccumulation index (I(geo)) show that Pb contamination exists in the entire study area and contamination of other metals are also present in some locations depending on the sources, of which sewage outlets and commercial ports are the main sources of contaminants to the area. This study shows that using the sediment quality standard criteria only to assess sediments cannot properly reflect sediment contamination. A multiple approaches should be applied for the sediment quality assessment.     

南菲(阿扎尼亚)巴伯顿绿岩带南部太古宙花岗岩层的地质和构造演化

为了确定在德兰士瓦德腊肯悬崖(2200Ma元古宙克拉通内部盖层)以东的太古宙花岗岩—绿岩区中发现的广泛岩石类型的性质和构造演化,在巴伯顿南部和西南地区进行了连续调查。在超过2500平方公里的地区进行了区域的和详细的普查,揭露有许多花岗岩类和与其共存的大量绿岩捕虏体,后者一直向南扩张到很远的南非巴伯顿绿岩带。像以前描述的,绿岩捕虏体由与翁韦瓦克特群最下部岩石组合相同的岩石类型组成,构成南非最老     

Giant Circumferential Dyke Swarms on Earth: Possible Analogues of Coronae on Venus and Similar Features on Mars

正Venusian coronae are large(60-2600 km diameter)tectono-magmatic features characterized by quasi-circular graben-fissure systems and topographic features such as a central dome,central depression,circular rim or circular