Soft X-ray spectroscopic studies of the reaction of fractured pyrite surfaces with Cr(VI)-containing aqueous solutions

We have used synchrotron-based soft X-ray core-level photoemission and adsorption spectroscopies to study the reaction of aqueous sodium chromate solutions with freshly fractured pyrite surfaces. Pyrite surfaces were reacted with 50 μM sodium chromate solution at pH 7 for reaction times between 1 min and 37 hr. Additional experiments were performed at pH 2 and pH 4 with 50 μM sodium chromate solutions and at pH 7 with 5 mM solutions. At chromate concentrations of 50 μM, all chromium present on the pyrite surface was in the form of Cr(III), while at 5 mM, both Cr(III) and Cr(VI) were present at the pyrite surface. Minor quantities of oxidized sulfur species (sulfate, sulfite, and zero-valent sulfur) were identified as reaction products on the pyrite surface. The amount of oxidized sulfur species observed on the surface was greater when pyrite was reacted with 5 mM Cr(VI) solutions because the rate of chromium deposition exceeded the rate of dissolution of pyrite oxidation products, effectively trapping Cr(VI) and oxidized sulfur species in an overlayer of iron(III)-containing Cr(III)-hydroxide. This work shows that pyrite, an extremely cheap and readily available waste material, may be suitable for the removal of hexavalent chromium from acidic to circumneutral waste streams. The reduced chromium ultimately forms a coating on the pyrite surface, which passivates the pyrite surface towards further oxidation.     

Investigating the effect of soil models on deformations caused by braced excavations through an inverse-analysis technique

In this study, a series of inverse-analysis numerical experiments was performed to investigate the effect of soil models on the deformations caused by excavation by using the finite element method. The nonlinear optimization technique that was incorporated into the finite element code was used for the inverse-analysis numerical experiments. Three soil models (the hyperbolic model, pseudo-plasticity model, and modified pseudo-plasticity model) were employed in the intended numerical experiments on a well-documented excavation case history. The results indicate that wall deflection due to excavation can be accurately back-figured by each of the three soil models, while the ground surface settlement can be reasonably optimized only by the pseudo-plasticity model and the modified pseudo-plasticity model. Importantly, the modified pseudo-plasticity model can yield more reasonable simulations when the wall deflection and the ground surface settlement are simultaneously back-figured. The results show that selection of an adequate soil model that is capable of adequately describing the stress–strain-strength characteristics of the soils is essentially crucial when predicting the excavation-induced ground response.     

A Queer Country? A case study of the politics of gay/lesbian belonging in an Australian country town

The present paper examines the complex politics of gay/lesbian belonging through a case study of Daylesford, Victoria, an Australian country town. It contributes to two research bodies: gay/lesbian rural geographies and the politics of belonging. Daylesford hosts ChillOut, Australia's largest rural gay/lesbian festival, which provides a telling context for investigating gay/lesbian belonging in rural Australia. We use qualitative data from the 2006 ChillOut Festival, including interviews with local residents, newspaper commentaries, and visitors’ surveys, to explore how Daylesford has been constructed, imagined, and experienced as a ‘unique’ site of gay/lesbian belonging in rural Australia. We find that ChillOut crucially contributes to its wider reputation as a gay-friendly country town, but also, we argue, to the contested nature of gay/lesbian belonging. This was most powerfully demonstrated by the local council's refusal to fly the gay-identified rainbow flag on the Town Hall during the 2006 Festival and its subsequent banning of the display of all festival flags from that key public building. Because ChillOut was the catalyst for this protocol, the resolution was viewed as homophobic. Indeed, the homophobic and heterosexist rhetoric that ensued in the Letters to the Editor section of the local newspaper revealed some residents’ underlying antagonism towards ChillOut and the local gay/lesbian community. Moreover, appealing to a shared ‘Australian identity’ and associated normative ‘family values’, these letter writers deployed a multi-scalar politics of belonging, where a sense of gay/lesbian belonging to Daylesford at the local scale was contested by the assertion of a ‘more meaningful’ national scale of allegiance fashioned by heteronormativity.     

The Gaojiacun Mafic-Ultramafic Complex （Sichuan, SW China）：Neoproterozoic Magmatic Activity at the Western Margin of the Yangtze Craton

1 Introduction The Gaojiacun intrusive complex is one of the numerous ultramafic-mafic intrusions in Sichuan Province of China. It was mapped during the 1970s and studied mainly by Chinese scientists (e.g. Geological Team 106, 1975; Shen et al., 1986, 1989; CGGJC, 1986; Yang et al., 1993; Li et al., 1995; Shen et al., 2003; Zhu et al., 2004a). Since the year 2000, China has become one of the largest PGE consumers. While the country can produce only less than 1 ton PGE/year, the Chin…