A kinetic approach to describe trace-element distribution between particles and solution in natural aquatic systems

The partitioning of radioactive trace elements between seawater and particulate matter from surface sediments and sediment traps was investigated in laboratory experiments. For the elements Na, Zn, Se, Sr, Cd, Sn, Sb, Cs, Ba, Hg, Th and Pa (group I) constant distribution coefficients (K_d) were found after a few days of equilibration, whereas the elements Be, Mn, Co and Fe (group II) showed an increasing K_d over the whole time of observation of 108 days. The time dependence of K_d is described by an adsorption-desorption equilibrium (group I elements), followed by a lattice transport reaction step (group II elements). The reaction rate constants are compared to Mn oxidation rates and to adsorption rate constants derived from in situ measurements of the $\text{U}\text{Th}$ disequilibrium as available from literature.     

Groundwater-level response to land-use change and the implications for salinity management in the West Moorabool River catchment, Victoria, Australia

The connection between the removal of native vegetation, rising water tables and increasing stream salinity has been established for many catchments across Australia. However, the West Moorabool River in south west Victoria is an example of a catchment where there has been little discernable effect on groundwater levels following land clearing. Over the past 150 years, a significant portion of the catchment has been cleared of dense forest for agricultural development. Historic standing water-level records from 1870–1871 and 1881 are compared with contemporary measurements (1970s to 2007) recorded in the government bore databases. The data show that the earliest recorded groundwater levels are well within the seasonal range of values observed today. By integrating geology and hydrogeology with historical observations of groundwater levels, climate data and land use, the contemporary field observations of stream salinity are linked to the changed water use and shift in rainfall. In contrast to the normally accepted axiom, reafforestation as a management strategy to mitigate the rising salinity in the West Moorabool River catchment would seem inappropriate.     

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon concentrations in urban soils representing different land use categories in Shanghai

An extensive soil survey was carried out in Shanghai to investigate the spatial distribution and possible sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in urban soils. Soil samples were collected from highways, iron-smelting plants, steel-smelting plants, shipbuilding yards, coking plants, power plants, chemical plants, urban parks, university campuses and residential areas and were analyzed for 16 PAHs by gas chromatography with mass detection. High PAH concentrations were found in all locations investigated, with mean values of soil total PAH concentrations in the range 3,279–38,868 μg/kg DM, and the PAH concentrations were significantly influenced by soil organic matter content. Soil PAH profiles in all districts were dominated by PAHs with 4–6 rings. Principal components analysis and diagnostic ratios of PAHs indicate that they were mainly derived from coal combustion and petroleum but in soils from highways the PAHs were derived largely from vehicle exhaust emissions. The high concentrations of PAHs found indicate that many urban soils in Shanghai represent a potential hazard to public health.     

Zur Geochemie der Diorit-Gruppe

Zusammenfassung Die Granodiorite und QuarzGlimmer-Diorite aus dem Intrusivgebiet von Fürstenstein (Bayerischer Wald), der Diorit des südlichen Vorspessarts mit eingeschalteten Amphibolitschollen und kalifeldspatreichen Schlieren, sowie die Diorite und Hornblendegabbros des mittleren Bergsträßer Odenwaldes wurden geochemisch verglichen. Zur Bestimmung der Haupt-, Neben- und Spurenelemente in 65 Gesteinsproben wurden röntgenspektrometrische, titrimetrische, flammenphotometrische und emissionsspektralanalytische Methoden herangezogen. Zusätzlich fanden 33 chemische Analysen aus der Literatur Verwendung.Die untersuchten Gesteinstypen reichen vom granodioritischen (Bayerischer Wald) über den dioritischen (Spessart) bis zum hornblenditischen (Odenwald) Chemismus, wobei jedes der drei Untersuchungsgebiete eine mehr oder weniger deutliche Gruppierung zeigt. Innerhalb der einzelnen Dioritkomplexe ist nur ein Teil der petrographisch erfaßbaren Gesteinstypen auch durch einen spezifischen Gesteinschemismus gekennzeichnet.Während die Granodiorite des Bayerischen Waldes bis auf die relativ hohen Zr-Gehalte auch im Hinblick auf die Spurenelementführung normale Verhältnisse zeigen, sind die niedrigen Cu-, Ni- und Zn-Gehalte, sowie das hohe K/Rb-Verhältnis in den Odenwald-Dioriten und Hornblendegabbros auffällig. Trotz der großen Streubreite im Hauptchemismus dieser Proben schwanken die SrGehalte nur relativ wenig.Bemerkenswert bei den Spessart-Dioriten ist, daß diese in den Spurenelementgehalten z. T. erheblich unter den von Vinogradov (1962) angegebenen Clarke-Werten bleiben. Die im Diorit eingeschlossenen Amphibolitschollen zeigen deutlich höhere Cu-, Ni- und Zn-Gehalte, sowie niedrigere Sr-und Ba-Gehalte. Die K/Rb-Verhältnisse unterscheiden sich dagegen praktisch kaum. Der Vergleich der Odenwald-Diorite und Hornblendegabbros mit den Amphiboliten zeigt, daß letztere durch niedrigere CaO-Gehalte, etwas größere Zr-Gehalte und ähnlich niedrige Ni-Gehalte gekennzeichnet sind.Im Lichte der geochemischen Ergebnisse wird die Genese der dioritischen Gesteine diskutiert.

---

On the geochemistry of the diorite groupComparative investigations of dioritic rocks from Bayerischer Wald, Spessart and Odenwald (South-Germany)

The granodiorites and quartz diorites of the Fürstenstein igneous complex (Bayerischer Wald), the diorites of the Spessart crystalline area (including schollen of amphibolite, and schlieren rich in K-feldspar) as well as the diorites and hornblende gabbros of the central Odenwald igneous complex have been compared. 65 rock specimens have been analyzed for the major and minor elements Si, Ti, Al, Fe³⁺, Fe²⁺, Mn, Mg, Ca, Na, K, P, as well as for the trace elements Zn, Cu, Ni, Rb, Sr, Zr, Ba, and (semiquantitative) V, and Cr using X-ray spectrometric, flame photometric, titrimetric, and UV-spectrometric methods. 33 additional analyses (major and minor elements only) have been taken from literature.The rock types investigated vary from granodiorite to hornblendite in chemical composition. The averages of the three diorite areas plot near quartz diorite, diorite, and gabbro composition, respectively. This grouping is followed very clearly by the trace element content of Zr, Rb and Ba rather than the other ones. The bearing of the geochemical results on the genesis of dioritic rocks is briefly discussed.

---

---

Herrn Prof. Dr. S. Matthes danken wir für sein stetes Interesse am Fortgang der Arbeit sowie für die kritische Durchsicht des Manuskripts. Die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft förderte die vorliegende Untersuchung in dankenswerter Weise durch die Gewährung von Sachbeihilfen und apparativen Einrichtungen.     

The Geographical Distribution of Mental Disorder in Denmark 1971–1990: A Study of First Admission Rates

Geografisk Tidsskrift, Danish Journal of Geography 97: 132–142, 1997.

In the period 1971–90 the first admission rate to Danish psychiatric hospitals and wards decreased by approximately 45%. This might reflect the similar decrease in number of available psychiatric beds. Generally, the decrease of first admission rates was larger in the metropolitan area than in the rest of the country. Consequently, the disparity in admission rates between town and country was reduced. Number of available beds has gained increasing importance as a predictor of variations between counties and municipalities whereas the importance of distance to hospital and degree of urbanization has declined. As regards socio-demographic variables special importance should be attached to variables for social aid and the employment rate in the social and health sector. However, it is generally difficult to determine whether regional variations are due to differences in treatment facilities or morbidity differences. From a disaggregate analysis it will appear that the diagnoses schizophrenia and alcoholism are especially related to low status areas whereas a connection with social status regarding neuroses and manic-depressive psychoses is less obvious.     

Change of multifractal thermal characteristics in the western Philippine sea upper layer during internal wave-soliton propagation

The upper layer (above 140 m depth) temperature in the western Philippine Sea near Taiwan was sampled using a coastal monitoring buoy (CMB) with 15 attached thermistors during July 28–August 7, 2005. The data were collected every 10 min at 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, and 20 m using the CMB sensors, and every 15 sec at 15 different depths between 25 m and 140 m. Internal waves and solitons were identified from the time-depth plot of the temperature field. Without the internal waves and solitons, the power spectra, structure functions, and singular measures (representing the intermittency) of temperature field satisfy the power law with multi-scale characteristics at all depths. The internal waves do not change the basic characteristics of the multifractal structure. However, the internal solitons change the power exponent of the power spectra drastically, especially in the low wave number domain; they also break down the power law of the structure function and increase the intermittency parameter. The physical mechanisms causing these different effects need to be explored further.     

Thermal fronts and cross-frontal heat flux in the southern Huanghai Sea and the East China Sea

Synoptic features in/around thermal fronts and cross-frontal heat fluxes in the southern Huanghai./Yellow Sea and East China Sea （HES） were examined using the data collected from four airborne expendable bathythermograph surveys with horizontal approxmately 35 km and vertical 1 m（from the surface to 400 m deep） spacings. Since the fronts are strongly affected by HES current system, the synoptic thermal features in/around them represent the interaction of currents with surrounding water masses. These features can not be obtained from climatological data. The identified thermal features are listed as follows ： （ 1 ） multiple boundaries of cold water, asymmetric thermocline intrusion, locally-split front by homogeneous water of approxmately 18 ℃, and mergence of the front by the Taiwan Warm Current in/around summertime southern Cheju - Changjiang/Yangtze front and Tsushima front; （2） springtime frontal eddy-like feature around Tsushima front; （3） year-round cyclonic meandering and summertime temperature-inversion at the bottom of the surface mixed layer in Cheju - Tsushima front; and （4） multistructure of Kuroshio front. In the Kuroshio front the mean variance of vertical temperature gradient is an order of degree smaller than that in other HES fronts. The southern Cheju- Changjiang front and Cheju -Tsushima front are connected with each other in the summer with comparable cross-frontal temperature gradient. However, cross-frontal heat flux and lateral eddy diffusivity are stronger in the southern Cheju - Changjiang front. The cross-frontal heat exchange is the largest in the mixing zone between the modified Huanghai Sea bottom cold water and the Tsushima Warm Current, which is attributable to enhanced thermocline intrusions.     

Thermodynamic characterization of boltwoodite and uranophane: Enthalpy of formation and aqueous solubility

Boltwoodite and uranophane are uranyl silicates common in oxidized zones of uranium ore deposits. An understanding of processes that impact uranium transport in the environment, especially pertaining to the distribution of uranium between solid phases and aqueous solutions, ultimately requires determination of thermodynamic parameters for such crystalline materials. We measured formation enthalpies of synthetic boltwoodites, K(UO₂)(HSiO₄)·H₂O and Na(UO₂)(HSiO₄)·H₂O, and uranophane, Ca(UO₂)₂(HSiO₄)₂·5H₂O, by high temperature oxide melt solution calorimetry. We also studied the aqueous solubility of these phases from both saturated and undersaturated conditions at a variety of pH. The combined data permit the determination of standard enthalpies, entropies and Gibbs free energies of formation for each phase and analysis of its potential geological impact from a thermodynamic point of view.