Comparison of dissolved and particulate arsenic distributions in shallow aquifers of Chakdaha, India, and Araihazar, Bangladesh

Background  

The origin of the spatial variability of dissolved As concentrations in shallow aquifers of the Bengal Basin remains poorly understood. To address this, we compare here transects of simultaneously-collected groundwater and aquifer solids perpendicular to the banks of the Hooghly River in Chakdaha, India, and the Old Brahmaputra River in Araihazar, Bangladesh.     

Dependence of radon exhalation on grain size of sedimentary waste

Tailings resulted from sulphuric acid leaching process of uranium from sedimentary rocks contain high concentrations of ²²⁶Ra and its daughters, the most important of which is ²²²Rn. Movement of radon gas out of the tailings is strongly influenced by the physicochemical characteristics of these tailings especially their radium content and the grain size. So, the tailing samples were size fractionated into four sizes (>?250, 250–125, 125–74 and <?74 µm). The natural radioactivity was investigated using hyper-pure germanium detector and solid-state nuclear track detectors (CR-39) for bulk size and after size fractionation. The activity concentrations of different radionuclides in size-fractionated tailing samples have been shown to be strongly dependent on the size of the particles. In the range of >?250 and <?74 µm, the activity concentrations of ²³⁰Th, ²²⁶Ra, ²¹⁴Pb, ²¹⁴Bi, ²¹⁰Pb, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K increased throughout with decreasing particle size, while that of ²³⁸U, ²³⁴U and ²³⁵U have an opposite effect. The results revealed an inverse relationship between the radon exhalation rate and size fractionation. Also, the results showed a good correlation between radium activity concentration and radon mass exhalation rate.     

Influence of Relative Density on Static Soil–Structure Frictional Resistance of Dry and Saturated Sand

Soil–structure frictional resistance is required while designing foundation systems and retaining walls. Although much more attention has been paid in recent years regarding soil–structure interaction for dynamic loading, highly conservative values of the static frictional resistance between soil and structure are used in design. Not much emphasis has been given lately to evaluate static frictional resistance between soil and structure. In this study, a well graded sand, as per USCS classification system, was prepared in the laboratory at different relative densities and moisture contents i.e. dry and saturated, and frictional resistances of those soils were measured. Those soil samples were also sheared against wood, concrete, and steel blocks and corresponding soil–structure frictional resistances were measured. Moreover, similar experiments were performed for saturated and loose poorly graded sand (SP), silty sand (SM) and poorly graded sand with silt (SP–SM). The study result shows that the difference between frictional resistance of soil and skin friction depends on the type of soil, relative density and the moisture content. Interestingly, shear envelopes for soil–soil and soil–structure shearing resistance exhibited curvature. The traditionally adopted soil–structure frictional resistance values adopted by various geotechnical manuals were found to be highly conservative.