Environmental Properties of Minerals and Contaminants Purified by the Mineralogical Method

The investigation of the environmental properties of minerals, i.e., environmental mineralogy, is a branch of science dealing with interactions between natural minerals and spheres of the Earth surface as well as a reflection of global change, prevention of ecological destruction, participation in biomineralogy, and remediation of environmental pollution. Pollutant treatment by natural minerals is based on the natural law and reflects natural self-purification functions in the inorganic world, similar to that of the organic world - a biological treatment. A series of case studies related to natural self-purification, which were mostly completed by our group, are discussed in this paper. In natural cryptomelane there is a larger pseudotetragonal tunnel than that formed by [MnO6] octahedral double chains, with an aperture of 0.462-0.466 nm2, filled with K cations. Cryptomelane might be a real naturally-occurring mineral of the active octahedral molecular sieve (OMS-2). CrⅥ-bearing wastewater can be treate     

Physicochemistry and Mineralogy of Storm Dust and Dust Sediment in Northern China

Dust sediments collected from 1995 to 1998 in Beijing, Dunhuang, Inner Mongolia, Kashi, the Kunlun Mountains, Lanzhou, Ningxia, the Taklimakan Desert, and Xi‘an, China, were characterized in terms of their physical, chemical, and mineralogical properties. Most aerosols and dust analysed ranged in texture from silty clay to clay loam. Their median particle diameters (Mds) generally ranged between 5 to 63μm,coinciding with those of loess from central China and the finest sand from northwestern China. The dust sediments were characterized by a predominance of SiO2 and Al2O3, followed by K2O. Their SiO2/Al2O3and K2O/SiO2 molar ratios ranged from 5.17 to 8.43 and from 0.009 to 0.0368, respectively. The mass concentration spectrum during a dust storm showed a single peak, rather than the triple peak generally observed under clear sky conditions. The dominant minerals were chlorite, illite, calcite, and dolomite.These physical, chemical, and mineralogical properties were consistent with those of aeolian soils and loess in western and central China. The results suggest that aerosols and fine-gained fractions of dust sediments collected in northern China are mainly composed of soil material transported from the arid and semiarid regions of China and Mongolia by prevailing winds. The rate of deposition and properties of dust falling on eastern China were strongly influenced by meteorological conditions, season, latitude, longitude, and altitude of the sampling sites.     

Advances in lunar science from the Clementine mission: A decadal perspective

The Clementine spacecraft orbited the Moon and acquired science data for 10 weeks in the Spring of 1994. During this time it collected global 11-band multispectral images and near global altimetry. Select areas of the Moon were imaged at 25 m/pixel in visible light and 60 m/pixel in thermal wavelengths. From these datasets a new paradigm for the evolution of the lunar crust emerged. The Moon is no longer viewed as a two-terrane planet, the Apollo samples were found not to represent the lunar crust as a whole, and the complexity of lunar crustal stratigraphy was further revealed. More than ten years later the Clementine datasets continue to significantly advance lunar science and will continue to do so as new measurements are returned from planned missions such as Chandrayaan, SELENE, and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. This paper highlights the scientific research conducted over the last decade using Clementine data and summarizes the influence of Clementine on our understanding of the Moon.     

Geochemical characteristics of mineral air particles emitted inside a clay atomisation plant which introduces waste recycling processes

The objective of this work is to assess the concentrations of three factions of air particles (settable particles, TSP and PM10) and the levels of several toxic elements in a clay atomisation industry through aerosol sampling at several points inside an industrial plant. Mechanical activities, which produce diffuse emissions, are the main process of discharge of particles in both indoor and outdoor workplace environments in the atomisation plant. The levels of As, Cd, Pb, Zn, Ba and Ni increase in the zones with higher concentrations of particles and lower ventilation. The concentrations of As and F are not influenced by the recycling processes. The levels of Cd and Pb do not show great enrichment in air particles collected inside the atomisation plant although the content of both elements is associated with ceramic muck recycling. Finally, the content of B in waste water is mainly transferred in gaseous phase to the atmosphere during the process of drying by atomisation.     

Bound and mobile soil water isotope ratios are affected by soil texture and mineralogy,whereas extraction method influences their measurement

Questions persist about interpreting isotope ratios of bound and mobile soil water pools, particularly relative to clay content and extraction conditions. Interactions between pools and resulting extracted water isotope composition are presumably related to soil texture, yet few studies have manipulated the bound pool to understand its influence on soil water processes. Using a series of drying and spiking experiments, we effectively labelled bound and mobile water pools in soils with varying clay content. Soils were first vacuum dried to remove residual water, which was then replaced with heavy isotope-enriched water prior to oven drying and spiking with heavy isotope-depleted water. Water was extracted via centrifugation or cryogenic vacuum distillation (at four temperatures) and analysed for oxygen and hydrogen isotope ratios via isotope ratio mass spectrometry. Water from centrifuged samples fell along a mixing line between the two added waters but was more enriched in heavy isotopes than the depleted label, demonstrating that despite oven drying, a residual pool remains and mixes with the mobile water. Soils with higher clay + silt content appeared to have a larger bound pool. Water from vacuum distillation samples have a significant temperature effect, with high temperature extractions yielding progressively more heavy isotope-enriched values, suggesting that Rayleigh fractionation occurred at low temperatures in the vacuum line. By distinctly labelling bound and mobile soil water pools, we detected interactions between the two that were dependent on soil texture. Although neither extraction method appeared to completely extract the combined bound and mobile (total water) pool, centrifugation and high temperature cryogenic vacuum distillations were comparable for both δ²H and δ¹⁸O of soil water isotope ratios.     

点苍山-哀牢山杂岩带中北段嘎洒地区变沉积岩的成因矿物学与变质演化特征

点苍山-哀牢山变质杂岩带中北段嘎洒地区出露了多种典型的变沉积岩,其中夕线石榴黑云二长片麻岩和二云母片岩保存多期/多阶段矿物相转变特征,本文通过岩相学和矿物化学的综合分析,并结合传统矿物对温压计的估算结果,限定上述典型变沉积岩峰期角闪-麻粒岩相(M1)阶段、近等温减压-高温剪切变形阶段(M2)和晚期退变质(M3)阶段的矿物组合及变质温压条件。峰期角闪-麻粒岩相(M1)阶段的矿物组合为:石榴石(Grt)+板柱状夕线石(Sil1)+黑云母(Bt1)+钾长石(Kfs)+斜长石(Pl)+石英(Qtz)+钛铁矿(Ilm),变质温度压力条件为t=690~750℃,p=690~810 MPa;近等温减压-高温剪切变形阶段(M2)阶段,稳定矿物组合为:Grt+Sil2+Bt2+Kfs+Pl+Qtz+Ilm,黑云母在强烈走滑剪切作用下发生脱水熔融反应:2 Bt→Sil+6(Mg,Fe)O+K_2O+5 Qtz+2 H_2O,石榴石、黑云母和夕线石等受到剪切变形影响而发生强烈定向,形成的温度压力条件为t=650~720℃,p=450~630 MPa;晚期退变质阶段(M_3)的稳定矿物组合为:Qtz+Bt+Ms+Pl,退变的温度压力条件为t=580~640℃,p=400~500MPa。其变质演化p-T轨迹样式具有近等温减压的顺时针型式,表明点苍山-哀牢山变质杂岩带曾经历了一次明显的俯冲-碰撞造山事件,峰期变质可达到角闪-麻粒岩相;在碰撞后的构造折返过程中,上述变质岩石发生强烈的高温剪切变形作用,并伴随着黑云母等含水矿物的脱水熔融。