Chemical Speciation of Vanadium in Coal Bottom Ash

Chemical speciation of vanadium is important to understand the true nature of this element in the environment as well as its biochemical pathways. Sample pretreatment, preparation, and chemical speciation methods were applied for vanadium in coal bottom ash here. Two‐stage microwave acid digestion was used to preparation of samples. Determination of vanadium was performed using inductively coupled plasma‐optical emission spectrometry (ICP‐OES). Speciation of vanadium was carried out using a seven‐step sequential extraction procedure of the coal bottom ash each releasing species of vanadium: Water soluble, exchangeable, carbonate, reducible, oxidizable, sulfide, and residual fractions. Total vanadium concentration in the coal bottom ash is 701 mg kg^?1 d.w. The most abundant form of vanadium in coal bottom ash is residual fraction of vanadium (196 mg kg^?1 d.w.). Relative abundances of the remaining vanadium fractions in coal bottom ash are as follows: Reducible (176 mg kg^?1 d.w.) > sulfide (176 mg kg^?1 d.w.) > carbonate (85 mg kg^?1 d.w.) > oxidizable (50 mg kg^?1 d.w.) > water soluble (10.6 mg kg^?1 d.w.) > exchangeable (9.0 mg kg^?1 d.w.).     

Spectroscopic study of the supergiant star 6 Cassiopeiae

Twenty-five coudé spectrograms (22 with dispersion 12 Å mm^–1 and three 7 Å mm^–1) of 6 Cassiopeiae (A3 Ia) have been studied. The observations were made at the Haute Provence Observatory. The results of the analysis suggest a correlation between the variations of the equivalent widths, the microturbulence and the radial velocity. The radial velocity and turbulent velocity present a rapid variation with time, even in intervals as short as about an hour. The hydrogen lines are slightly asymmetric but the strongest Feii lines are clearly asymmetric. We found that the amount of asymmetry of the strongest Feii lines (I>6) correlates with the loggf value, with the estimated laboratory intensityI, and with the equivalent widthW .The observations have been made at the Astronomical Observatory of Haute Provence (CNRS). This work has been supported by TUBITAK (Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey), and partially by CNR (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche) of Italy.     

Seismic hazard analysis of Laoag City,Northern Philippines for liquefaction potential assessment

A seismic hazard analysis was conducted in Laoag City, Northern Philippines to determine the design ground motion for liquefaction potential assessment of the area. Because the hazard analysis was done within the framework of liquefaction potential assessment, only those earthquakes with magnitude–distance combinations that are capable of generating liquefaction were considered in the study. Both probabilistic and deterministic approaches were used in the analysis. From the results of the probabilistic analysis, seismic hazard curves were generated from which the ground motion with a 10% probability of exceedance in 50years was obtained. This was then modified in consideration of the soft soil condition in the study area. Deaggregation was performed to determine the most likely earthquake to generate the said level of ground shaking.     

The QuakeSim Project: Web Services for Managing Geophysical Data and Applications

We describe our distributed systems research efforts to build the “cyberinfrastructure” components that constitute a geophysical Grid, or more accurately, a Grid of Grids. Service-oriented computing principles are used to build a distributed infrastructure of Web accessible components for accessing data and scientific applications. Our data services fall into two major categories: Archival, database-backed services based around Geographical Information System (GIS) standards from the Open Geospatial Consortium, and streaming services that can be used to filter and route real-time data sources such as Global Positioning System data streams. Execution support services include application execution management services and services for transferring remote files. These data and execution service families are bound together through metadata information and workflow services for service orchestration. Users may access the system through the QuakeSim scientific Web portal, which is built using a portlet component approach.     

Petrophysical study of faults in sandstone using petrographic image analysis and X-ray computerized tomography

Petrographic image analysis (PIA) and X-ray computerized tomography (CT) provide local determinations of porosity in sandstone. We have investigated small faults called deformation bands in porous sandstones using these techniques. Because the petrophysical properties of the fault rock vary at a small scale (mm scale), the ability of PIA and CT to determine porosity in small volumes of rock and to map porosity distribution in two and three dimensions is crucial. This information is used to recognize the processes involved in fault development and the different kinds of microstructures associated with dilatancy and compaction. The petrophysical study of fault rock in sandstone permits one to make predictions of the hydraulic properties of a fault and thereby evaluate the sealing or fluid transmitting characteristics of faulted reservoirs and aquifers. The results of this study indicate that faulting in sandstone alters the original porosity and permeability of the host rock: the porosity is reduced by an order of magnitude and the permeability is reduced by one to more than seven orders of magnitude for faults associated with compaction.     

Distribution and chemical speciation of heavy metals in the surficial sediments of the Bak?r?ay and Gediz Rivers, Eastern Aegean

The pollution of aquatic ecosystem by heavy metals has assumed serious proportions due to their toxicity and accumulative behaviour. The toxicity and fate of the water borne metal is dependent on its chemical form and therefore quantification of the different forms of metal is more meaningful than the estimation of its total metal concentrations. A five-step sequential extraction procedure was applied for the determination of the distribution of seven elements (Pb, Cr, Cu, Mn, Zn, Ni, Fe) in sediment samples collected from Bakır?ay and Gediz Rivers. According to this study, the results of metals are mostly retained in the residual, oxidizable and reducible fractions. Based on the chemical distribution of metals, we found that Cr, Zn, Cu and Ni are the most non-mobile metals. Pb is the metal that showed the highest percentages in the residual and reducible fractions. Mn is present in the higher percentages in the reducible and carbonate fractions. However, Fe is present in the greatest percentages in the residual fraction, which implies that these metals are strongly linked to the sediments. The risk assessment code as applied to the present study shows that about 12.3–26.9 and 15.7–33.5% of manganese at most of the sites exist in carbonate fraction in the Bakır?ay and Gediz Rivers, respectively. Therefore, Mn comes under the medium risk category in the Bakır?ay and high-risk category in the Gediz River. Speciation pattern of Cu, Zn, Pb, Cr, Ni, Fe shows low to medium risk to aquatic environment health in both rivers.