Trapping Ionic Mercury Using Different Adsorbents

Of recent, adsorption process has gained a lot of attention as a cheap and effective means of removing trace metals from wastewater prior to discharge into water bodies. Being flexible in design and operation, the process has enabled an optimal recovery of trace metals such that the treated effluents meet the desired standards for waste disposal. Mercury is a toxicant released into the environment from natural and anthropogenic sources. It is notorious for having an unusual tendency to bio‐accumulate and persist in the food chain. Presence of mercury in food, especially those of aquatic sources has drastic implications on human health. Therefore, efforts have been made to develop and optimize low‐cost activated carbon (AC) as adsorbents for scavenging mercury from aqueous effluents. Herein, how mercury accumulates across the food chain, its health implications, and the recent advancement in the use of low‐cost ACs as adsorbent for trapping mercury from wastewater are highlighted. Relationship between the mercury removal efficiency and the surface morphology of the adsorbents as well as the influence of prevailing experimental condition on the sorption process were addressed. Challenges and future prospects of the use of low‐cost adsorbents in addressing mercury pollution in the environment are discussed.     

High spatio-temporal resolution measurements of cohesive sediment erosion

In this study, we present a novel approach to measure fundamental processes of cohesive sediment erosion. The experimental setup consists of a laboratory erosion flume (SETEG) and a photogrammetric method to detect sediment erosion (PHOTOSED). Detailed data are presented for three erosion experiments, which were conducted with a natural non-cohesive/cohesive sediment mixture at increasing sediment depths (4, 8, 16 cm). In each experiment, the sediment was exposed to a set of incrementally increasing shear stresses and the erosion was measured dynamically, pixel-based, and approximate to the process scale given the resolution of PHOTOSED. This enables us to distinguish between (i) individual emerging erosion spots caused by surface erosion and (ii) large holes torn open by detached aggregate chunks. Moreover, interrelated processes were observed, such as (iii) propagation of the erosion in the longitudinal and lateral direction leading to merging of disconnected erosion areas and (iv) progressive vertical erosion of already affected areas. By complementing the (bulk) erosion volume profiles with additional quantitative variables, which contain spatial information (erosion area, specific deepening, number of disconnected erosion areas), conclusions on the erosion behaviour (and the dominant processes) can be drawn without requiring qualitative information (such as visual observations). In addition, we provide figures indicating the spatio-temporal erosion variability and the (bulk) erosion rates for selected time periods. We evaluate the variability by statistical quantities and show that significant erosion is mainly confined to only a few events during temporal progression, but then considerably exceeds the time-averaged median of the erosion (factors between 7.0 and 16.0). Further, we point to uncertainties in using (bulk) erosion rates to assess cohesive sediment erosion and particularly the underlying processes. As a whole, the results emphasise the need to measure cohesive sediment erosion with high spatio-temporal resolution to obtain reliable and robust information. © 2020 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd     

非同沉积断裂活动对邻断裂岩层厚度变化的控制作用

以露头尺度构造现象、物探成果图件、模型模拟实验及国内外有关文献资料为依据,探讨了由非同沉积断裂活动导致的、发生在邻断裂场所的岩层厚度变化的现象及规律。其表现特征为:在正断层作用下,上盘岩层发生增厚,下盘岩层出现减薄;在逆断层作用下,出现的情况正好相反;平移或走滑断层则在"滑向端"和"滑离端"分别出现增厚及减薄现象。该认识对石油、工程和找矿部门具有实际指导作用,对构造地质学的理论研究具有深化认识的意义。      

基于遥感计算云平台高原山区植被覆盖时空演变研究——以贵州省为例

为揭示喀斯特山区植被时空变化规律,选取2000-2018年间1 748景30 m分辨率Landsat-NDVI影像,结合35个气象站点数据,辅以像元二分模型、线性趋势分析及地理探测器等方法,对贵州省19年间年植被覆盖度进行定量估算,分析其植被覆盖度时空变化特征及驱动因素。结果表明:（1）贵州省中、高植被覆盖度以上的区域面积占比约63%,其中高植被覆盖度区域面积占21.16%,主要集中分布于碎屑岩地区。（2）近19年来,贵州省植被覆盖度总体缓慢趋好,年均增长速率为0.4%,严重石漠化样区多年最大植被覆盖度均值始终低于整体植被覆盖度均值。（3）研究期间贵州省植被覆盖度以轻微改善、基本不变两个等级为主,两者面积比重之和约为95.4%,退化区域主要分布在城镇周边,面积比重约为3.8%。（4）气象因素、地理区位各因子间交互作用对植被覆盖度空间格局影响大于单因子作用。综上所述,城镇面积扩展、石漠化治理工程、地理区位及气象因素等是影响植被恢复与生态环境重建的关键要素,研究植被覆盖度多年动态特征力求为相关部门的水土保持、生态环境保护及石漠化治理提供重要的基础数据及科学参考。      

Institutional challenges for resolving conflicts between fisheries and endangered species conservation

Successful species conservation typically results in conflicts between wildlife protection and economic uses of natural resources as in fisheries and aquaculture. This article shows why managing these conflicts require a more comprehensive approach than currently pursued by endangered species conservation programmes. Against the background of several case studies focussing on wildlife conflicts in European waters this article derives two challenges for institutional response: First, the question of mandate—which societal actor initiates management related processes that require multiple actors to collaborate? Second, how can continuous processes of collaboration be sustained?     

TeV Gamma Rays From the Galactic Center Direct and Indirect Links to the Massive Black Hole in Sgr A

The recent detection of TeV gamma-radiation from the direction of the Galactic Center within several arc-minutes around Sgr A^* is the first model-independent evidence of existence of high-energy particle accelerator(s) in the central 10 pc region of our Galaxy. This is an extraordinary site that harbours many remarkable objects with the compact radio source Sgr A^* – a hypothetical super-massive black hole (SMBH) – in the dynamical center of the Galaxy. Here we explore the possible direct and indirect links of the reported TeV emission to the SMBH. We show that at least three γ-ray production scenarios that take place close to the event horizon of the SMBH can explain the reported TeV fluxes. An alternative (or additional) channel of TeV radiation is related to the run-away protons accelerated in Sgr A^*. Quasi-continuous injection of relativistic protons into the surrounding dense gas environment initiates detectable high-energy gamma-ray emission. The absolute flux and the energy spectrum of this radiation component strongly depend on the history of particle injection and the character of diffusion of protons during the last 10⁵ yr. For a reasonable combination of a few model parameters, one can explain the detected gamma-ray flux solely by this diffuse component.     

Gravity studies of the Rockall and Exmouth Plateaux using SEASAT altimetry

Abstract SEASAT altimetric measurements are used to determine the gravity anomalies across two passive continental margins: the western margin of the Rockall Plateau, UK, and the Exmouth Plateau off north-west Australia. The small gravity anomalies observed over the starved western margin of the Rockall Plateau require the existence of a major density contrast within the crust, as well as the Moho, and show that the elastic thickness is less than 5 km at the time of rifting. The gravity anomaly over the Exmouth Plateau is compared with the gravity anomaly calculated from the sediment loading of a thin elastic plate, taking account of the variation in crustal thickness. This comparison shows that the Exmouth Plateau also has a small effective elastic thickness of 5 km, even for loads emplaced between 60 and 120 Myr after rifting. Elastic thicknesses of about 5 km have also been reported for other sedimentary basins, and are to be expected if the rheological properties of the crust and mantle depend on the ratio of the present temperature to the melting temperature. Flexural effects are therefore likely to be of minor importance in sedimentary basins.     

The effect of particle precipitation events on the neutral and ion chemistry of the middle atmosphere: II. Odd hydrogen

A one dimensional time-dependent model of the neutral and ion chemistry of the middle atmosphere has been used to examine the production of odd hydrogen (H, OH, and HO₂) during charged particle precipitation. At altitudes above about 65 km, odd hydrogen production depends on the ionization rate, and the atomic oxygen and water vapor densities. Odd hydrogen production is shown to exhibit diurnal and other time dependent variations during such an event at these altitudes, and the assumption that two odd hydrogen particles are always produced per ionization is reexamined.