Isotopic provenancing of Pb in Mitrovica,northern Kosovo: Source identification of chronic Pb enrichment in soils,house dust and scalp hair

Mitrovica, northern Kosovo, is the site of some of the highest Pb concentrations reported in human populations; exemplified by Pb concentrations in scalp hair of up to 130 μg g⁻¹ and widely-publicized of Pb-related ill-health and mortality amongst internally displaced populations. High human Pb burdens are accompanied by elevated concentrations of potentially harmful elements (PHEs) in soils and house dust within the city, which has a long history of mining and metallurgy. In this study enrichment-levels for PHEs in soils are quantified and compared to environmental quality guidelines and a statistically-derived estimation of background concentration. In addition, Pb isotopes (²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb, ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁶Pb) are used to characterise the isotopic signatures of potential point sources of Pb and a mixing model employed to quantify the contribution of sources to Pb present in soils, house dust, and the scalp hair of children and young people. Pb isotopic evidence suggests that Pb in surface soils and house-dust is predominantly sourced from historical deposition of Pb-containing aerosols from metal smelting, with lower contributions from wind-blown dispersal of metalliferous waste. Pb present in scalp hair is interpreted as the result of non-occupational exposure and the ingestion and/or inhalation of Pb-enriched surface soil and house dust. This study represents one of the very few instances where this type of geochemical tracing technique has been successfully applied to definitively identify the source of Pb present within biological samples. The results of this study are of particular relevance to environmental management and highlight the human health risk posed by the legacy of now inactive mining and metallurgy in addition to the challenge posed in mitigating the risk posed by diffuse soil pollution.     

Laboratory Studies on Property Changes in Surrounding Clays Due to Installation of Deep Mixing Columns

This paper has identified six major factors causing property changes in surrounding soils during and after installation of deep mixing columns: soil thixotropy, soil fracturing, cement penetration and diffusion, cementation, consolidation, and heating. Laboratory tests were performed to investigate the effects of soil thixotropy, soil fracturing, and cementation in a soft marine clay, Ariake clay. Laboratory tests were conducted to evaluate property changes in surrounding clays due to installation of deep mixing columns. Test results showed that an influential zone of property changes existed in surrounding clay ranging from the edge of the columns to the distance of about twice the radius of the columns. Within this influential zone, water content decreased as samples neared the columns, while pH values and electric conductivity increased. Test results also showed that undrained shear strengths of the surrounding clays decreased during mixing but regained after a 7-day curing period and continued increasing during 28 days in this study.     

Microstructure measurements in natural waters: Methodology and applications

Modern approaches to microstructure data processing, including wavelet denoising, are discussed. The wavelet procedure is applied to small-scale shear signals before estimating the dissipation rate ε and to the temperature/density profiles used to calculate Thorpe scales. Microstructure data obtained on the Mediterranean shelf of Catalonia are used to illustrate various approaches to the Thorpe displacement calculations. It is suggested that the Weibull probability function is an appropriate model for the Thorpe scale distribution. Microstructure measurements from the upper layer of the Boadella reservoir (Catalonia, Spain) support this finding.A new analytical approximation for the 1D Panchev–Kesich spectrum is deduced and the results of ε computation are compared with spectral fitting by the widely used Nasmyth spectrum. Applying the Kraichnan spectral model to compute ε from temperature spectra in the convective-viscous sub-range is examined as an alternative to the Batchelor spectrum. Microstructure measurements taken in Lake Banyoles (Catalonia, Spain) and in the North Atlantic were used for spectral calculations.Statistical analysis of eddy K_b and thermal K_θ diffusivities measured on a shallow shelf of the Black Sea shows the importance of process-orientated domain averaging of the diffusivities in obtaining good correspondence between K_b and K_θ in active turbulent regions. In weakly turbulent, stratified interior layers, the averaged K_b and K_θ differ significantly, which may point to the inapplicability of isotropic formulae used for ε and temperature dissipation χ_θ estimates, as well as to a dependence of the mixing efficiency γ on the Richardson number or in some cases on regions of fossil turbulence.     

Unusual features of the distribution of Radon-222 in the bottom waters of the continental slope of the Mid-Atlantic Bight: Hydrodynamic implications

²²²Rn was measured in the near-bottom waters of the continental slope of the Mid-Atlantic Bight. Separate measurements of the ²²²Rn supported by dissolved ²²⁶Ra allowed the excess ²²²Rn that is derived from the underlying sediments to be distinguished. Measurements of production of ²²²Rn by the sediments were used to calculate fluxes of ²²²Rn from sediments that would be expected as a result of molecular diffusion. On the upper slope and on the lower slope excess ²²²Rn standing crops were, respectively, greater than and consistent with fluxes of radon from sediments by molecular diffusion as are typical of most ocean environments. On the middle slope, however, observed excess ²²²Rn concentrations and standing crops were significantly lower than what would be expected from the calculated fluxes from the underlying sediments. This unusual feature of low radon concentrations on the middle slope is referred to as the low-radon zone (LRZ). This LRZ was always present over several years and seasons, but was variable in intensity (excess-radon concentration and standing crop) and in location on the slope. Low concentrations of suspended particulate matter and low current velocities observed by others in the same region are consistent with low mixing as a possible cause of the LRZ. Radon profile shapes and recent work by others on near bottom mixing due to interactions between topography and internal waves, however, suggest that high mixing due to internal waves is a more likely cause of the LRZ.     

闽江口的盐、淡水混合

采用盐、淡水混合比的概念研究闽江口的混合状态，并确定了分层、部分混合、高度混合３种类型的分类指标。研究表明，闽江口主要水道的盐、淡水混合以部分混合为主，其次是分层，高度混合出现的机率较少；盐水异重流发育良好，混合状态的变化与潮流速的变化不相一致；盐水入侵时混合比相对较小，后退时相对较大。闽江口是一个径、潮量比值较小的强潮河口，按照一般规律，其盐、淡水混合应该出现高度混合型，但在闽江口的主汊道中发生     

A Comparison Between Modelled and Measured Mixing-Layer Height Over Munich

An attempt is made to correlate the mixing heights, derived from ceilometer and Sodar measurements, to those simulated by different atmospheric boundary-layer parameterization schemes. The comparison is performed at two sites (one suburban and one rural) close to Munich, Germany for two spring and two winter days. It is found that, under convective conditions, the mixing height determined, by both Sodar and ceilometer, corresponds to the middle or the top of the entrainment zone, respectively, as calculated from the eddy-viscosity profiles. Under stable conditions, the measured mixing height is related to the height where eddy viscosities attain their minimum values (Sodar) or to the height of residual mechanical turbulence (ceilometer). During a foehn case with weak turbulence, the measured mixing height from both Sodar and ceilometer is better inferred by considering the eddy-viscosity profiles during daytime and the height of the low-level jet during nighttime.     

Fluid inclusion characteristics of hematite-bearing quartz vein from the Daenam mine, Republic of Korea

The Daenam mine, which produced over 9250 tons of iron oxide ore from 1958 to 1962, is situated in the Early Cretaceous Yeongyang subbasin of the Gyeongsang basin. It consists of two lens-shaped, hematite-bearing quartz veins that occur along faults in Cretaceous leucocratic granite. The hematite-bearing quartz veins are mainly composed of massive and euhedral quartz and hematite with minor amounts of pyrite, pyrrhotite, mica, feldspar and chlorite.Fluid inclusions in quartz can be divided into three main types: CO₂-rich, CO₂–H₂O, and H₂O-rich. Hydrothermal fluids related to the formation of hematite are composed of either H₂O–CO₂–NaCl ± CH₄ (homogenization temperature: 262–455 °C, salinity <7 eq. wt.% NaCl) or H₂O–NaCl (homogenization temperature: 182–266 °C, and salinity <5.1 eq. wt.% NaCl), both of which evolved by mixing with deeply circulating meteoric water. Hematite from the quartz veins in the Daenam mine was mainly deposited by unmixing of H₂O–CO₂–NaCl ± CH₄ fluids with loss of the CO₂ + CH₄ vapor phase and mixing with downward percolating meteoric water providing oxidizing conditions.     

Remobilisation of deep Na-Cl waters by a regional flow system in the Alps: Case study of Saint-Gervais-les-Bains (France)

The hydrothermal system of Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, France is located in a south western low-elevation point of the Aiguilles Rouges crystalline Massif. The crystalline rocks are not directly outcropping in the studied area but certainly exist beyond 300 m depth. Uprising waters are pumped from two different aquifers below the Quaternary deposits of the Bon Nant Valley. In the Lower Trias-Permian aquifer crossed by De Mey boreholes (27–36 °C), the ascending Na-SO₄ and high-Cl thermal water from the basement (4.8 g/L) is mostly mixed by a Ca-SO₄ and low-Cl cold water circulating in the autochthonous cover of the Aiguilles Rouges Basement. The origin of the saline thermal water probably results from infiltration and circulation in the basement until it reaches deep thrust faults with leaching of residual brines or fluid inclusions at depth (Cl/Br molar ratio lower than 655). The dissolution of Triassic halite (Cl/Br > 1000) is not possible at Saint-Gervais-les-Bains because the Triassic cold waters have a low-Cl concentration (< 20 mg/L). Water–rock interactions occur during the upflow via north–south strike-slip faults in the basement and later on in the autochthonous cover. For the De Mey Est borehole, gypsum dissolution is occurring with cationic exchanges involving Na, as well as low-temperature Mg dissolution from dolomite in the Triassic formations. The aquifer of imbricated structures (Upper-Middle Trias) crossed by the Lépinay well (39 °C) contains thermal waters, which are strongly mixed with a low-Cl water, where gypsum dissolution also occurs. The infiltration area for the thermal end-member is in the range 1700–2100 m, close to the Lavey-les-Bains hydrothermal system corresponding to the Aiguilles Rouges Massif. For the Ca-SO₄ and low-Cl end-member, the infiltration area is lower (1100–1300 m) showing circulation from the Mont Joly Massif. The geothermometry method indicates a reservoir temperature of probably up to 65 °C but not exceeding 100 °C.     

Variability of the Subtropical Front in the Indian Ocean south of Australia

A detailed high resolution survey of a small region (68 × 68 km) of the Subtropical Front south of Australia over a period of 14 days is used to study the interaction between the mixed layer and the permanent frontal structure underneath during summer conditions. The front extends through the mixed layer as a salinity front, while its temperature structure is modified by seasonal warming. Wind-driven movement of the mixed layer combines with the short-time development of indentations and filaments in the front to produce some degree of decoupling between the mixed layer and the underlying structure, and the front is not always found at the same location in and below the mixed layer. Intrusions and parcels of distinct water properties are found just below the mixed layer, produced as a result of the relative movement of the front in and below the mixed layer. These parcels are typically 10 km in width and 10–50 m in depth. Successive surveys of the front with a time separation of 2 days showed that these features persist over at least 1 week. Large scale surveys of the front show that parcels are ubiquitous along the Subtropical Front over a distance of several hundred kilometres. The results suggest that any study aimed at understanding the intricate interaction between the mixed layer and the layers below in oceanic fronts will have to address wind-driven dynamics and frontal dynamics together.This revised version was published online February 2005 with corrections to figures. Unfortunately the figures were reproduced in black and white and in the new version they are in color.     

Geochemistry of natural gases in deep strata of the Songliao Basin, NE China

Chemical composition and stable carbon isotopic studies were undertaken for 27 gas samples from deep strata of the Xujiaweizi Depression in the Songliao Basin to investigate their origin. Gas molecular and carbon isotopic compositions show great variety. Methane is the main component for all studied samples and its content ranges from 57.4% to 98.2% with an average of 90.1%. Gas wetness ranges from 0.8% to 16.7% with an average of 2.7%. The main non-hydrocarbon gases are carbon dioxide and nitrogen with an average of 4.0% and 3.2%, respectively. Carbon isotope data suggest that these deep strata gases are mainly coal-type gases mixed with minor amounts of associated (oil-type) gases. Coal-type gases are characterized by heavier carbon isotopic values and drier chemical compositions. These gases were generated from the Lower Cretaceous Shahezi Formation coals interbedded shales with type III kerogen during the postmature stage of hydrocarbon generation. Oil-type gases are characterized by lighter carbon isotope and higher wetness, which were generated from the Lower Cretaceous shales with type II kerogen in the shallow strata during the early mature stage of hydrocarbon generation. Mixing of two different gases causes unusual carbon isotopic distribution patterns, with lighter isotopic values in higher numbered carbons in most gases. The discovery of coal-type gases in the Songliao Basin provides new prospects for the exploration in this region.