Acid mine drainage at Cerro Rico de Potosí I: unabated high-strength discharges reflect a five century legacy of mining

Intensive mining and processing of Ag, Sn, Pb and Zn ores have occurred in various locations within and around the city of Potosí, Bolivia since 1545. Surface and subsurface waters, stream sediments and soils are contaminated with various ecotoxic metals in the headwaters of the economically vital, yet highly impacted, upper Rio Pilcomayo watershed. Previous studies have documented downstream trace metal contamination, however, not addressed specific sources. The AMD discharges identified in this study help link downstream pollution to primary origins. The majority of AMD would be considered high-strength due to metal concentrations and acidity orders of magnitude greater than typical AMD. Discharges from both operating and abandoned portals as well as tailings-related deposits displayed a high degree of heterogeneity with total metal concentrations ranging from 0.11 to 7480, <0.022 to 889, <0.0006 to 65.3, <0.001 to 310, 0.12 to 72,100, 0.3 to 402, <0.012 to 34.8, and 0.24 to 19,600 mg/L of Al, As, Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb and Zn, respectively. Net acidity and pH ranged from −10 to 246,000 mg/L as CaCO₃ equivalent and 0.90–6.94 standard units, respectively. Data were gathered during two sampling events centered around the most extreme periods of the dry and wet seasons of one water-year. Loadings to local streams were marginally greater for most metals in the wet season. If observed loadings are historically representative, Cerro Rico AMD has contributed thousands of tonnes of ecotoxic metals to the upper Rio Pilcomayo over the last five centuries. Metal and hydrogen ion concentrations in the majority of AMD sampled were several orders of magnitude above discharge limits set by the Bolivian government, yet no action has historically or contemporarily been taken.     

Diurnal Variation of Gravity Wave Activity at Midlatitudes in the Ionospheric F Region

We investigate the short-term fluctuations in the period range from 15 to 180 minutes in the electron density variations of the F region ionosphere. Electron density profiles obtained at the ionospheric stations of Pruhonice (49.9° N, 14.5° E) and Ebro (40.8° N, 0.5° E) at five minute time sampling have been used for this analysis. The diurnal changes of the activity of the acoustic gravity wave fluctuations (AGW) show a clear enhancement during and several hours after sunrise. The periods of such AGW's are about 60 to 75 minutes and these waves propagates vertically through the ionosphere from a source located at an altitude of 180-220 km. The most likely source for these events seems to be passage of the Solar terminator.     

Diffusive equilibrium in thin films provides evidence of suppression of hyporheic exchange and large‐scale nitrate transformation in a groundwater‐fed river

The hyporheic zone of riverbed sediments has the potential to attenuate nitrate from upwelling, polluted groundwater. However, the coarse‐scale (5–10 cm) measurement of nitrogen biogeochemistry in the hyporheic zone can often mask fine‐scale (<1 cm) biogeochemical patterns, especially in near‐surface sediments, leading to incomplete or inaccurate representation of the capacity of the hyporheic zone to transform upwelling NO₃^?. In this study, we utilised diffusive equilibrium in thin‐films samplers to capture high resolution (cm‐scale) vertical concentration profiles of NO₃^?, SO₄^2?, Fe and Mn in the upper 15 cm of armoured and permeable riverbed sediments. The goal was to test whether nitrate attenuation was occurring in a sub‐reach characterised by strong vertical (upwelling) water fluxes. The vertical concentration profiles obtained from diffusive equilibrium in thin‐films samplers indicate considerable cm‐scale variability in NO₃^? (4.4 ± 2.9 mg N/L), SO₄^2? (9.9 ± 3.1 mg/l) and dissolved Fe (1.6 ± 2.1 mg/l) and Mn (0.2 ± 0.2 mg/l). However, the overall trend suggests the absence of substantial net chemical transformations and surface‐subsurface water mixing in the shallow sediments of our sub‐reach under baseflow conditions. The significance of this is that upwelling NO₃^?‐rich groundwater does not appear to be attenuated in the riverbed sediments at <15 cm depth as might occur where hyporheic exchange flows deliver organic matter to the sediments for metabolic processes. It would appear that the chemical patterns observed in the shallow sediments of our sub‐reach are not controlled exclusively by redox processes and/or hyporheic exchange flows. Deeper‐seated groundwater fluxes and hydro‐stratigraphy may be additional important drivers of chemical patterns in the shallow sediments of our study sub‐reach. © 2015 The Authors. Hydrological Processes Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Comparison of the LEW88516 and ALHA77005 martian meteorites: Similar but distinct

Abstract By mineral and bulk compositions, the Lewis Cliff (LEW) 88516 meteorite is quite similar to the ALHA77005 martian meteorite. These two meteorites are not paired because their mineral compositions are distinct, they were found 500 km apart in ice fields with different sources for meteorites, and their terrestrial residence ages are different. Minerals in LEW88516 include: olivine, pyroxenes (low- and high-Ca), and maskelynite (after plagioclase); and the minor minerals chromite, whitlockite, ilmenite, and pyrrhotite. Mineral grains in LEW88516 range up to a few mm. Texturally, the meteorite is complex, with regions of olivine and chromite poikilitically enclosed in pyroxene, regions of interstitial basaltic texture, and glass-rich (shock) veinlets. Olivine compositions range from Fo₆₄ to Fo₇₀, (avg. Fo₆₇), more ferroan and with more variation than in ALHA77005 (Fo₆₉ to Fo₇₃). Pyroxene compositions fall between En₇₇Wo₄ and En₆₅Wo₁₅ and in clusters near En₆₃Wo₉ and En₅₃Wo₃₃, on average more magnesian and with more variation than in ALHA77005. Shock features in LEW88516 range from weak deformation through complete melting. Bulk chemical analyses by modal recombination of electron microprobe analyses, instrumental neutron activation, and radiochemical neutron activation confirm that LEW88516 is more closely related to ALHA77005 than to other known martian meteorites. Key element abundance ratios are typical of martian meteorites, as is its non-chondritic rare earth pattern. Differences between the chemical compositions of LEW88516 and ALHA77005 are consistent with slight differences in the proportions of their constituent minerals and not from fundamental petrogenetic differences. Noble gas abundances in LEW88516, like those in ALHA77005, show modest excesses of ⁴⁰Ar and ¹²⁹Xe from trapped (shock-implanted) gas. As with other ALHA77005 and the shergottite martian meteorites (except EETA79001), noble gas isotope abundances in LEW88516 are consistent with exposure to cosmic rays for 2.5–3 Ma. The absence of substantial effects of shielding from cosmic rays suggest LEW88516 spent this time as an object no larger than a few cm in diameter.     

华北东部地幔改造作用和置换作用:单斜辉石激光探针研究

对山东蒙阴古生代金伯利岩中石榴石方辉橄榄岩、河南鹤壁新生代玄武岩中 铬尖晶石方辉橄榄岩、山东栖霞新生代玄武岩中央晶石二辉橄榄岩和山东山旺新生代 玄武岩中尖晶石（富ＣｐＸ）二辉橄榄岩单斜辉石的常量、微量元素的研究和对比表明：华 北地块古生代稳定存在的克拉通岩石圈地幔在中、新生代其东部被具大洋地幔性质的 显生宙地幔不均匀地发生了置换作用,残存于南北重力梯度带（岩石圈减薄过渡带）上 的鹤壁浅部克拉通地幔除保存有置换作用前改造作用的丰富信息外,也包含有其深部 被置换后的地幔改造作用信息;郯庐断裂带东部栖霞的新生地幔仍保留有较多的大洋 地幔成分特征,而郯庐断裂带内山旺的新生地幔受后续地幔改造作用的影响有向大陆 地幔演化的趋向．发生于华北地块东部中、新生代的岩石圈巨厚减薄作用与地幔的置换 作用有关,由渐进的富ＣＯ_２流体或碳酸岩熔体对岩石圈地幔的交代改造作用以及由此 所引起的熔体抽取作用是完成新生地幔对古老地幔置换作用的关键．郯庐断裂带等岩 石圈深大断裂为地幔改造作用和地幔置换作用提供了良好的通道作用．     

Anaerobic Metabolism in Tidal Freshwater Wetlands: I. Plant Removal Effects on Iron Reduction and Methanogenesis

For energetic reasons, iron reduction suppresses methanogenesis in tidal freshwater wetlands; however, when iron reduction is limited by iron oxide availability, methanogenesis dominates anaerobic carbon mineralization. Plants can mediate this microbial competition by releasing oxygen into the rhizosphere and supplying oxidized iron for iron reducers. We utilized a plant removal experiment in two wetland sites to test the hypothesis that, in the absence of plants, rates of iron reduction would be diminished, allowing methanogenesis to dominate anaerobic metabolism. In both sites, methanogenesis was the primary anaerobic mineralization pathway, with iron reduction dominating only early and late in the growing season in the site with a less organic soil. These patterns were not influenced by the presence of plants, demonstrating that plants were not a key control of microbial metabolism. Instead, we suggest that site conditions, including soil chemistry, and temperature are important controls of the pathways of anaerobic metabolism.     

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A simple analytical method for calculating temperature perturbations in a basin caused by the flow of water through thin, shallow-dipping aquifers

Fluid flow in sedimentary basins can be driven by a variety of mechanisms. Commonly, flow is localized in relatively thin aquifers or structures and often these permeable units may be approximated by a series of straight planar segments with shallow dip. A simple formula is derived that describes temperature perturbations in a straight aquifer segment with shallow dip. The temperature is determined everywhere along the segment if the flow rate and temperature at one point is known. “Daisy chaining” the solutions allows easy calculation of the temperature perturbation in a basin caused by fluid flow through a shallow-dipping network of linear fault and aquifer segments. The approach may find many applications but is here illustrated the a number of examples related to the origin of Mississippi Valley-type PbZn deposits. The cases considered emphasize the “salinity problem” encountered by models that hypothesize these deposits formed as the result of cross-basin hydrological flow.