A mass balance approach to estimate the dilution and removal of the pollutants in stream water polluted by acid mine drainage

 A few simple mass balance equations were developed to simultaneously estimate how much the pollutants from acid mine drainage (AMD) in stream water are diluted and removed during their migration. The application of the equations requires knowledge of the variations in the concentrations of the dissolved pollutants and the stoichiometry of the precipitation reaction of the pollutants when none of the pollutant shows a conservative behavior along the stream path. The calculation should be restricted to the pollutants showing much higher concentrations in the polluted main stream water than in the combining or diluting water of the same target area. The mass balance equations were applied to estimate the dilution factor and precipitation fractions of pollutants in Imgok Creek such as Fe, SO₄ and Al from the AMD of Yeongdong mine. The results show that the estimation, especially for SO₄ and Al, significantly depends on the kinds of the precipitates. When FeOHSO₄ and AlOHSO₄ are assumed to precipitate, the maximum removal fractions of SO₄ and Al by precipitation are respectively 34% and 46% of the original input, which is much higher than the values estimated when SO₄ is considered to be perfectly conservative. It indicates that the stoichiometry of precipitation reaction is very important in the interpretation of the pollutant dilution and migration and assessment of environmental impacts of AMD. The applicability of the mass balance equations may still need to be verified. However, examining the calculated dilution factor and precipitation fractions with the equations can provide invaluable information on not only the behavior but also unexpected input of the pollutants in the stream water polluted by AMD and other point sources. Received: 12 November 1997 · Accepted: 30 March 1998     

Application of Two Turbulence Closure Schemes in the Modelling of Tidal Currents and Salinity in the Hooghly Estuary

This paper has two purposes. The first is to study the circulation and salinity in Hooghly Estuary, along the east coast of India and the second is to compare the performance of two turbulence closure schemes by modelling it. A breadth averaged numerical model using a sigma co-ordinate system in the vertical is briefly described. Vertical diffusion of momentum and salt are parameterized by a simple first-order turbulent closure or by a one equation model for turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) which uses a specified mixing length. The results are compared with the available neap and spring tide observations along the estuary for both low and high discharge periods.The computed elevations and currents are in reasonable agreement with the observations showing no major differences in vertical current profiles by both the turbulent schemes. However, there is a slight under-prediction of bottom currents. The salinity profiles predicted by TKE model show better matching with observations. Statistical tests are also conducted to study the comparative performance of the turbulent closure schemes. The maintenance of two layer structure in residual currents and salt variability are also studied by using the model.     

New INTEGRAL sources and TeV emission

INTEGRAL is operational since more than three years and producing high quality data that allows to detect fainter new hard X-ray sources. The new sources, identified until now, are mostly active galactic nuclei and absorbed or transient high mass X-ray binaries. TeV emission could be expected from the new high mass X-ray binaries accreting dense clumps of stellar wind. INTEGRAL sources with TeV counterparts are discussed. Based on observations with INTEGRAL, an ESA project with instruments and science data centre funded by ESA member states (especially the PI countries: Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain), Czech Republic and Poland, and with the participation of Russia and the USA.     

Flexibility in temporary fisheries closure legislation is required to maximise success

Temporary closures have been used for centuries in many parts of the world as a tool for fisheries management and restoration. The length of time that a closure is in place can play a determinative role in the effectiveness of the closure as a means of restoring stock biomass and diversity. For species that are slow growing and slow to reproduce, closures shorter than a decade are unlikely to be sufficient for the effects of restoration to accrue. New Zealand has two legislative mechanisms specifically designed to establish temporary closures: sections 186A and 186B of the Fisheries Act 1996. These provisions were created to respond to localised depletion and to provide for the use and management practices of Māori (New Zealand’s Indigenous People). There is currently a two-year time limit on temporary closures applied for by the community. By defining a time limit for temporary closures legislators have failed to account for the ecology of many of the species targeted for protection that require longer periods of protection for restoration. Furthermore, the way in which the final decision making power is vested with central government is also inconsistent with the original purpose of the provisions. An amendment to the temporary closure provisions is suggested to provide greater flexibility for users and to better recognise the non-commercial fishing rights provided for by the Fisheries Act 1996, of local communities seeking to apply this tool.     

The stellar mass spectrum of the open cluster NGC 3293

We have obtained and analyzed UBVRI CCD frames of the young, 4–10 Myr, open cluster NGC 3293 and the surrounding field in order to study its stellar content and determine the cluster’s IMF. We found significantly fewer lower mass stars, M≤2.5M _⊙, than expected. This is particularly so if a single age for the cluster of 4.6 Myr is adopted as derived from fitting evolutionary models to the upper main sequence. Some intermediate-mass stars near the main sequence in the HR diagram imply an age for the cluster of about 10 Myr. When compared with the Scalo (The stellar initial mass function. ASP conference series, vol. 24, p. 201, 1998) IMF scaled to the cluster IMF in the intermediate mass range, 2.5≤M/M _⊙≤8.0 where there is good agreement, the high mass stars have a distinctly flatter IMF, indicating an over abundance of these stars, and there is a sharp turnover in the distribution at lower masses. The radial density distribution of cluster stars in the massive and intermediate mass regimes indicate that these stars are more concentrated to the cluster core whereas the lower-mass stars show little concentration. We suggest that this is evidence supporting the formation of massive stars through accretion and/or coagulation processes in denser cluster cores at the expense of the lower mass proto-stars. R.W. Slawson and E.P. Horch are guest investigators at the University of Toronto Southern Observatory, Las Campanas, Chile.     

黄河黑山峡大柳树坝坝址岩体渗漏量及灌浆量数值模拟研究

大坝坝址岩体的渗漏研究对于大坝的安全运营至关重要。在进行渗漏治理的措施中,灌浆是常见的一种,但目前确定灌浆的各项参数,如配合比,孔距等,需通过灌浆试验花费大量的人财物力及时间才能确定。为快速查清每一种灌浆方案所灌浆量,本文针对模拟坝址水库渗漏灌浆效果的三维数值模拟开展了计算研究。在对大柳树坝坝址岩体地质情况及渗漏情况分析的基础上,将蓄水前的地下水运移规律模拟出,与实际通过钻孔平硐资料及分析得出的实际地下水运移规律做比较,验证对地下水运移规律的假设;然后将蓄水后的地下水运移规律模拟出,确定地下水的运移规律,了解地下水运移的方向,验证与根据实际情况初步判断的地下水运移方向是否吻合;最后通过数值模拟确定在一定灌浆浆液配合比的情况下所需灌浆量与实际的灌浆试验结果做比较。得出结果与实际灌浆试验结果吻合,证明通过数值模拟,建立浆液配合比与灌浆效果之间的关系,在类似情况快速地选取配合比是可行的。     

大体积混凝土的施工控制要点

以邢台市七里河大桥为例,基于施工中采取的施工工艺,针对大体积混凝土出现温度裂缝的病害,提出了相应的施工控制要点。     

Optical closure of parameterized bio-optical relationships

An optical closure study on bio-optical relationships was carried out using radiative transfer model matrix operator method developed by Freie Universitt Berlin.As a case study,the optical closure of bio-optical relationships empirically parameterized with in situ data for the East China Sea was examined.Remote-sensing refl ectance(R rs)was computed from the inherent optical properties predicted by these biooptical relationships and compared with published in situ data.It was found that the simulated R rs was overestimated for turbid water.To achieve optical closure,bio-optical relationships for absorption and scattering coeffi cients for suspended particulate matter were adjusted.Furthermore,the results show that the Fournier and Forand phase functions obtained from the adjusted relationships perform better than the Petzold phase function.Therefore,before bio-optical relationships are used for a local sea area,the optical closure should be examined.     

一个两时间层分裂显格式海洋环流模式(MASNUM)及其检验

A two-time-level, three-dimensional numerical ocean circulation model（named MASNUM） was established with a two-level, single-step Eulerian forward-backward time-differencing scheme. A mathematical model of large-scale oceanic motions was based on the terrain-following coordinated, Boussinesq, Reynolds-averaged primitive equations of ocean dynamics. A simple but very practical Eulerian forward-backward method was adopted to replace the most preferred leapfrog scheme as the time-differencing method for both barotropic and baroclinic modes. The forward-backward method is of second-order of accuracy, computationally efficient by requiring only one function evaluation per time step, and free of the computational mode inherent in the three-level schemes. This method is superior to the leapfrog scheme in that the maximum time step of stability is twice as large as that of the leapfrog scheme in staggered meshes thus the computational efficiency could be doubled. A spatial smoothing method was introduced to control the nonlinear instability in the numerical integration. An ideal numerical experiment simulating the propagation of the equatorial Rossby soliton was performed to test the amplitude and phase error of this new model. The performance of this circulation model was further verified with a regional（northwest Pacific） and a quasi-global（global ocean simulation with the Arctic Ocean excluded） simulation experiments. These two numerical experiments show fairly good agreement with the observations. The maximum time step of stability in these two experiments were also investigated and compared between this model and that model which adopts the leapfrog scheme.     

Origin and anatomy of two different types of mass–transport complexes: A 3D seismic case study from the northern South China Sea margin

Integration of 2D and 3D seismic data from the Qiongdongnan Basin along the northwestern South China Sea margin has enabled the seismic stratigraphy, seismic geomorphology and emplacement mechanisms of eight separate, previously undocumented, mass–transport complexes (MTCs) to be characterized. These eight MTCs can be grouped into two types:(1) Localized detached MTCs, which are confined to submarine canyons and cover hundreds of km², consist of a few tens of km³ remobilized sediments and show long striations at their base. They resulted from small-scale mass-wasting processes induced by regional tectonic events and gravitational instabilities on canyon margins.(2) Regional attached MTCs, which occur within semi-confined or unconfined settings and are distributed roughly perpendicular to the strike of the regional slope. Attached MTCs occupy hundreds to thousands of km² and are composed of tens to hundreds of km³ of remobilized sediments. They contain headwall escarpments, translated blocks, remnant blocks, pressure ridges, and basal striations and cat-claw grooves. They were created by large-scale mass-wasting processes triggered by high sedimentation rates, slope oversteepening by shelf-edge deltas, and seismicity.Our results show that MTCs may act as both lateral and top seals for underlying hydrocarbon reservoirs and could create MTC-related stratigraphic traps that represent potential drilling targets on continental margins, helping to identify MTC-related hydrocarbon traps.