Environmental Emission of Mercury During Gold Mining by Amalgamation Process and its Impact on Soils of Gympie, Australia

— The aims of this study were to estimate the total amount of mercury released to the environment during 60 years of gold mining (1867–1926) at Gympie, Queensland, Australia and to measure the mercury levels in soil samples surrounding the mining activity. We estimated that 1902 tonnes of mercury was released to the environment and about 1236 tonnes of which was released to the air. The mean mercury in the soil samples in the vicinity of the Scottish battery varied from 1.07 to 99.26 μg g^?1 as compared to 0.075 μg g^?1 as background mercury concentrations. The maximum mercury concentration measured in sediments of the Langton Gully was 6.12 μg g^?1. These results show that large amount of mercury was used in this area during gold mining. Since mining is active in the area and Langton Gully flows into Mary River, we therefore, recommend that mercury concentration in air and fish should be monitored.     

Characterisation of the 1997 Vulcanian explosions of Soufrière Hills Volcano,Montserrat, by video analysis

The activity of Convention at Montserrat Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat, during the period 1995–1999 included numerous violent explosions. Two major cycles of Vulcanian explosions occurred in 1997: a first of 13 explosions between 4 and 12 August and a second of 75 between 22 September and 21 October. The explosions were short-lived events lasting a few tens of seconds during which partial fountain collapse generated pyroclastic surges and pyroclastic flows, and buoyant plumes ascended 3–15 km into the atmosphere. Each explosion discharged on average 3×10⁵ m³ (dense-rock equivalent, DRE) of magma, draining the conduit to depths of 1–2 km. The paper focuses on the first few seconds of three explosions of the 75 that occurred in September/October 1997: 6 October 1997 at 17:50, 7 October 1997 at 16:02 and 9 October 1997 at 12:32. Physical parameters such as exit velocities, magmatic water contents and magma pressures at fragmentation are estimated by following and modelling the ascent of individual momentum-dominated finger jets visible on videos during the initial stages of each explosion. The model treats each finger jet as an incompressible flow sustained by a steady flux of gas and particles during the few seconds of ascent, and produces results that compare favourably with those using a multiphase compressible code run using similar eruptive parameters. Each explosion reveals a progressive increase in eruptive intensity with time, jet exit velocities increasing from 40 m s^–1 at the beginning of the explosion up to 140 m s^–1 after a few seconds. Modelling suggests that the first magma to exit was largely degassed, whereas that discharged after a few seconds contained up to 2 wt% water. Magma overpressures up to ~10 MPa are estimated to have existed in the conduit immediately prior to each explosion. Progressive increases in jet exit velocity with time over the first few seconds of each explosion provide direct evidence for strong pre-eruptive gradients in water content and magma pressure in the upper reaches (probably 100–500 m) of the conduit. Fountain collapse occurred during the first 10–20 s of each explosion because the discharging jets had bulk densities up to 100 times that of the atmosphere and were unable to entrain enough air to become buoyant. Such high eruptive densities were due to the presence of partially degassed magma in the conduit.Editorial responsibility: A. Woods     

Indoor Radon Radioactivity at the University of Brunei Darussalam

— Indoor radon radioactivity in the rooms on the ground floor and first floor of the Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Universiti Brunei Darussalam was measured using a system that consists of an air filter pump, ZnS detector, photomultiplier tube and counter. Ground floor rooms' radon radioactivity was found to be about three times higher than that of the first floor. The maximum ground floor indoor radioactivity is only 0.39 Bqm^?3, a value relatively low and safe compared to the mean outdoor radon concentration of 1.41 Bqm^?3 measured (HU and TAN, 2000). The main source of radon emanation originates from the ground soil rather than the building materials.     

Source mechanism of the 22/11/1995 Gulf of Aqaba earthquake and its aftershock sequence

The Gulf of Aqaba earthquake occurred on 22/11/1995 with M _W = 7.2 and was the largest event to occur along the Dead Sea Transform in at least a century. We determined the source mechanism of the event based on the inversion of the P and SH waveforms observed by teleseismic stations. Our solution consists of 2 similar subevents, where the first exhibits a left-lateral strike-slip motion with a normal component and the second subevent shows an almost pure left-lateral strike-slip motion along the gulf major fault system. The total seismic moment is 7.7 × 10²⁶ dyne-cm, with source duration of 15 seconds. The aftershock sequence was recorded by the regional broad band stations BGIO and JER, of the Israel Seismic Network, and KEG, of the MEDNET regional network for earthquakeswith M _W > 4.0. Aftershock epicenter seems to cluster mainly in the Eilat basin and the Aragonese basin. The dominant mechanism indicates left-lateral strike slip motion along the gulf trend, similar to the mainshock.     

The colonization of periphytic diatom species on artificial substrates in the Ashar canal, Basrah, Iraq

Studies have been conducted between March 1993 and March 1994 in the Ashar canal, a backwater of the Shatt al-Arab River, Iraq. Using artificial substrates, the colonization and development of seventy-five diatom species belonging to twenty genera could be revealed. Taxa apportionment varied seasonally as well as within each season. A few species have been found during all experiments. These are Amphora ovalis, Bacillaria paradoxa, Cocconeis placentula var. euglypta, Cyclotella meneghiniana, Cymbella ventricosa, Navicula tripunctata var. schizonemoides, Rhoicosphenia curvata, and Synedra ulna. The occurrence of B. paradoxa in Experiment 1 (March-April 1993) and Experiment 4 (end of January to beginning of March 1994) was higher than 50%. Similarity of species increased towards the end of each season, and the communities from experiments 1 and 4 were more similar than others. The experiments also suggest that week 4 represents the equilibrium phase while week 6 reflects the increase in biological interactions. The results could also indicate the sequence of primary colonizers and the community development towards the equilibrium.     

Water and sediment outbursts from advanced Franz Josef Glacier,New Zealand

The Franz Josef Glacier, Westland, New Zealand, has a history of catastrophic sediment‐laden outburst ?oods associated with extreme rainfall events when the glacier toe is advanced over its own sediments. Consideration of these events and inspection of recent sediment deposits suggest that there are three distinct modes of outburst. The ?rst is associated with fans fed by over?ow along the glacier margin. As the glacier has advanced across its own fore?eld gravels, it is inferred that the primary drainage conduit has developed a reach of negative slope. In high ?ows massive boulders can block the conduit, trapping lesser clasts. The resulting backup of water causes over?ows through marginal moulins, producing the fan type of deposit. The second type of outburst deposits massive imbricated boulders at a greater or lesser distance from the glacier portal. In this case, pressure buildup drives the blockage out of the portal where the boulders deposit. Smaller materials are generally carried away. The third type consists of very shallow ?ows, and produces massive gravel deposits of uncertain provenance. In this condition, the excess pressure in the conduit results in slight uplift of the glacier and widespread discharge of water and sediment below the glacier snout; gravels and smaller sediments are laid down in a massive deposit across the fore?eld. The massive, boulder‐veneered deposit from the December 1995 outburst is interpreted in the light of the above mechanisms as a hyperconcentrated ?ow deposit from hydraulic jacking, overlain by boulders emplaced by a subsequent conduit outburst. A possible association of outbursts with the present advanced position of the glacier is suggested. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Classification of artificial (man-made) ground

The legacy inherited from anthropogenic processes needs to be addressed in order to provide reliable and up-to-date ground information relevant to development and regeneration in the urban environment. The legacy includes voids as well as anthropogenic deposits (artificial ground). Their characteristics derive from former quarrying and mining activities industrial processes creating derelict ground, variably consolidated made ground, and contaminated groundwater and soils. All need to be systematically assessed to inform the planning process and provide the basis for engineering solutions. Site-specific investigation needs to be conducted on the back of good quality geoscientific data. This comes from ‘field’ survey, remotely sensed data interpretation, historical maps, soil geochemical sampling, and geotechnical investigation. Three-dimensional and, in the future, four dimensional, characterization of superficial deposits is required to reach an understanding of the potential spatial lithological variability of artificial ground and the geometry of important surfaces, i.e. the boundary conditions. The classification scheme for artificial ground outlined in this paper and adopted by the British Geological Survey, will help in achieving this understanding.     

An experimental investigation of LNAPL migration in an unsaturated/saturated sand

Accidental spills of hydrocarbons, such as Light Non-Aqueous Phase Liquids (LNAPLs), are one of the most common sources of subsurface contamination. Migration of LNAPL in a porous medium is influenced by various factors such as the number of fluids present in the unsaturated/saturated zones and the proportion of pores occupied by each fluid. The results for relationship between matric suction and degree of saturation are presented in this paper for water–air, water–LNAPL and LNAPL–air systems in a sand. A simple and reliable setup using Buchner funnel was designed to obtain these relations. It was found that the relationship between matric suction head and degree of saturation is hysteretic for all the fluid systems (water–air, water–LNAPL and LNAPL–air). Furthermore, the amount of hysteresis depended upon the fluid system, with the maximum hysteresis occurring for water–air system. The results suggest that the amount of trapped air depends upon the reversal degree of saturation from drying to wetting.     

Radio identification and continuum spectra of decameter-wavelength sources

The paper describes a method for the radio identification of decameter-wavelength sources based on their continuum spectra and analysis of their coordinates in relatively large error boxes surrounding a specified position on the sky. The distribution of continuum spectra and identifications in other wavelength ranges are analyzed for the resulting radio catalog. Using identifications with the FIRST and NVSS surveys, the statistics of the spectral index-size and spectral index-flux density distributions for steep-spectrum sources have been studied, and a catalog of ultrasteep-spectrum (α相似文献