As a result of the collapse of the Aznalcollar mine tailings dam, a large extension of the Guadiamar valley in SW Spain was covered with a layer of pyrite sludge. Although most of the sludge was removed, a small amount remains in the soil, constituting a potential source of water pollution. A column experiment was carried out in order to determine the rate of sludge oxidation in the soil, and the existence of metal retention processes. The column was filled with a mixture of sludge and a sandy soil common in the region. At different time intervals, the column was leached with water and the resulting solution analysed.
The pH of the water dropped to values around 2 after 260 days and then remained constant due to the buffering role of silicate dissolution. The concentration of Zn, Cd and Co in the leachates matched the expected values from flow-through experiments at atmospheric oxygen pressure. This indicates that oxygen diffusion in the pores was complete. Moreover, no efficient processes existed for retaining Zn, Cd and Co, which formed soluble salts and were entirely incorporated into the infiltrating water. During the first 2 months of the experiment, when pH was higher than 4.5, the concentrations of Fe and Al were very low. Saturation indices showed that the solution was in equilibrium with amorphous Fe(OH)3 and Al(OH)3. Subsequently, at lower pH values, jarosite [(Na,K)Fe3(SO4)2(OH)6] formed. This solid phase was identified by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Jarosite was also responsible for the depletion of As, Pb, Sb and probably Tl in the water resulting from infiltration. 相似文献
The small Central American republic of El Salvador has experienced, on average, one destructive earthquake per decade during the last hundred years. The latest events occurred on 13 January and 13 February 2001, with magnitudes Mw 7.7 and 6.6, respectively. The two events, which were of different tectonic origin, follow the patterns of the seismicity of the region although neither event has a known precedent in the earthquake catalogue in terms of size and location. The earthquakes caused damage to thousands of traditionally built houses and triggered hundreds of landslides, which were the main causes of fatalities. The earthquakes have clearly demonstrated trends of increasing seismic risk in El Salvador due to rapid population expansion in areas of high shaking and landslide hazard, exacerbated by deforestation and uncontrolled urbanisation. The institutional mechanisms required for the control of land use and building practice are very weak and present a major obstacle to risk mitigation. 相似文献
New wide-angle reflection and refraction seismic data provide constraints on the structure of the upper lithosphere, and test models of its evolution to raise the northeastern part of the Tibetan Plateau. Amplitudes observed for reflections from the crust-mantle boundary are sufficiently large to suggest that there is no significant partial melt in the deep crust. The data show an increase of the crustal thickness between terranes from north of the Kun Lun Fault into the Qang Tang of central Tibet, and a contrast among their intracrustal images and compositions. In the north, P and S velocities are consistent with a dominantly felsic composition and show that only the upper crust thickened. South of the Kun Lun Fault a thicker crust made of two layers could result from the superposition of the originally thin crust of the Bayan Har terrane on the lower part of the crust of the domain to the north, which upper crust it shoved and thickened. Different modes of crustal thickening, either by thickening of individual layers or superpositions and imbrication among them appear to work jointly to raise the topography. 相似文献
This paper presents results recently obtained for generating site-specific ground motions needed for design of critical facilities. The general approach followed in developing these ground motions using either deterministic or probabilistic criteria is specification of motions for rock outcrop or very firm soil conditions followed by adjustments for site-specific conditions. Central issues in this process include development of appropriate attenuation relations and their uncertainties, differences in expected motions between Western and Eastern North America, and incorporation of site-specific adjustments that maintain the same hazard level as the control motions, while incorporating uncertainties in local dynamic material properties. For tectonically active regions, such as the Western United States (WUS), sufficient strong motion data exist to constrain empirical attenuation relations for M up to about 7 and for distances greater than about 10–15 km. Motions for larger magnitudes and closer distances are largely driven by extrapolations of empirical relations and uncertainties need to be substantially increased for these cases.
For the Eastern United States (CEUS), due to the paucity of strong motion data for cratonic regions worldwide, estimation of strong ground motions for engineering design is based entirely on calibrated models. The models are usually calibrated and validated in the WUS where sufficient strong motion data are available and then recalibrated for applications to the CEUS. Recalibration generally entails revising parameters based on available CEUS ground motion data as well as indirect inferences through intensity observations. Known differences in model parameters such as crustal structure between WUS and CEUS are generally accommodated as well. These procedures are examined and discussed. 相似文献
The Granada Basin (Central Betic Cordillera), one of the most seismically active areas of the Iberian Peninsula, is currently subjected to NW-SE compression and NE-SW extension. The present day extension is accommodated by normal faults with various orientations but particularly with a NW-SE strike. At the surface, these active NW-SE normal faults are mainly concentrated on the NE part of the Basin. In this part we have selected a 15-km long segment where several active normal faults crop out. Using the marine Tortonian rocks as a reference, we have calculated a minimum extensional rate of 0.15-0.30 mm/year. The observed block rotation, the listric geometry of faults at depth and the distribution of seismicity over the whole Basin, indicate that this rate is a minimum value. In the framework of an interdisciplinary research project a non-permanent GPS-network has been established in the central sector of Betic Cordillera to monitor the crustal deformations. The first two observation campaigns were done in 1999 and 2000. 相似文献
The differentiation of units in the Sierra de Almagro has been a source of controversy. There were defined the Almagride and Ballabona–Cucharón complexes, the former considered by several authors as part of a Subbetic metamorphosed and outcropping in a tectonic window. In this study, the units of Ballabona, Almagro and Cucharón are integrated into a single one, that of Tres Pacos, because they correspond to different parts of the same stratigraphic series. This unit is tectonically over the Nevado–Filabride Complex. The existence of the Almagride and Ballabona–Cucharón complexes is discarded and their units form part of the Alpujarride Complex. To cite this article: C. Sanz de Galdeano, F.J. Garc??a Tortosa, C. R. Geoscience 334 (2002) 355–362.相似文献
. Three transgressive–regressive 2nd-order cycles were identified in the Upper Aptian–Albian fluvial and marine deposits of the Lusitanian Basin. Its widespread nature, probably including eustatic origin, allows correlation between the southern package, with precise stratigraphic positioning, and the northern series with a poorly constrained age. The main unconformities can be related to the onset of an oceanic crust, in the western margin of Galicia during the Late Aptian, in the bay of Biscay during the Early Albian, and, to the northwest of the Galicia triple point, during the Middle to Late Albian transition, and, at the Albian–Cenomanian boundary, to a probable compressive event with Africa due to the rotation of Iberia. To cite this article: J. Dinis et al., C. R. Geoscience 334 (2002) 757–764.相似文献