Protracted Environmental Issues on a Proposed Titanium Minerals Development in Kenya's South Coast

This study takes cognizance of the fact that the TIOMIN (TIOMIN Resources Inc. of Canada) project has resulted in controversy over its handling of environmental issues and especially the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The authors address many of the protracted issues that have slowed the development of the mining project in Kwale. The main emphasis is on the impacts of the mining and mineral separation processes on the environment, including the governing legislation, the role of consultation and public participation, and socioeconomic issues. In their public documents TIOMIN has specified neither the type of minerals it wants to extract from the area nor their chemical composition. It is well known, however that the titanium minerals and zircon targeted have impurities of iron, thorium and uranium. In the absence of an Environmental Management Plan, the effects of stockpiling radioactive wastes and other impurities that could possibly lead to environmental degradation in both the terrestrial and marine environments have not been publically addressed. The measures proposed to mitigate ecological damage as a result of the establishment of a minerals processing plant in the area seem inadequate. Pollution resulting from accidental spillage or breakage could have significant impact on marine life and residents living near the mining site. Other issues that have not been addressed satisfactorily pertain to the use of surface and underground water. The area already faces a huge water deficit and the calculations presented on aquifer recharge and stream flow rates do not indicate the large quantities of water that would be required in the mineral processing plant. The project, if approved in its present state, risks violation of international conventions. Furthermore, it could cause a conflict between Kenya and Tanzania in the event of an oil spill at the proposed ship loading facility at Shimoni. The proposed mining area includes the district's most fertile land, is home to many fisherfolk and is a major tourist destination. An analysis of the effects of this project on other available opportunities must be thoroughly understood to ascertain the economic and environmental benefits and costs of the mining venture. The proposed compensation rate of $1,000 per acre, for resettlement for example, appears to be grossly inadequate. Compensation should take into account family size and structure family assets and the cost of relocation.     

Nutrients and zooplankton composition and dynamics in relation to the hydrological pattern in a confined Mediterranean salt marsh (NE Iberian Peninsula)

The role of the hydrological regime in the nutrients and zooplankton composition and dynamics has been analysed in five lagoons of La Pletera salt marshes (NE Iberian Peninsula) during a complete hydrological cycle (2002–2003). Two of the lagoons have their origin in the old river mouths while the other three were recently created in the framework of a Life Restoration project. This fact has also allowed us to study the effect of the lagoon age on nutrient and zooplankton composition and dynamics. The salt marsh hydrology is determined by a prolonged period of confinement without water inputs, irregularly interrupted by sudden water inputs due to flooding events (sea storms or intense rainfalls). While the dynamics of oxidized nitrogen compounds in the lagoons depends on the water inputs variability within each hydrological cycle, the internal load of phosphorus, total nitrogen and organic matter is related more to the cumulative mechanisms during the confinement periods. Accumulation processes may be easily related to lagoon age, since old lagoons have higher content of nutrients and organic matter, suggesting that these lagoons progressively accumulate nutrients during the successive confinement events. This is the usual case for most Mediterranean salt marshes without an artificially manipulated water regime. The zooplankton community in La Pletera integrates the effects of both the hydrological regime and the lagoon age since the former determines the temporal pattern of the main zooplankton species and the latter explains differences in composition and structure between old and new lagoons.     

The Effect of Internal Fluid on the Response of Vortex-Induced Vibration of Marine Risers

Based on Iwan‘s wake oseillator model developed with the classical van der Pol equalion, the differential equation for the response of the vortex-induced vihration (VIV) of the riser considering the effect of the internal flowing fluid and the external marine environmental condition is derived. The effect of the intermal flowing fluid on the response of VIV of the riser is studied by means of the Finite Element Method. The results show that the effect of the internal fluid velocity on the VIV of the riser is strong when the natural frequency of the riser is close to the vortex shedding frequency. In addition, the increase of the top tension can decrease the sensitivity of the riser to the internal fluid velocity.     

九龙江流域水葫芦打捞去除水体营养盐模型研究

水葫芦被收获时,水体中的营养盐也将包含在植物组织中而被去除.本研究首先通过野外实验和参考国内外有关文献,建立了九龙江流域水葫芦生长数学模型和持续生产模型,确定了模型的各有关参数:水葫芦生长容量K值为25.6 kg/m2、最大生长速率rmax为0.12d-1;水体中氮和磷的半饱和系数hN和hP值分别为0.2和0.03;水葫芦最低生长温度(mθin)为7℃,最适水温(oθpt)为30℃,最高生长温度(θmax)为40℃.随后采用所建立的模型计算了研究区水葫芦打捞的营养盐去除效果,研究区面积6 000m2的水体实施水葫芦打捞策略后,1a所能收获的水葫芦最大产量为9.18×105kg,去除的TP为214.4kg,TN为966.6kg.     

Seasonal succession of cyanoprokaryotes in a hypereutrophic oligo-mesohaline lagoon from the South of France

The Bolmon lagoon (South of France) is an oligo-mesohaline coastal lagoon that has undergone intense eutrophication in the past decades, resulting from a strong concentration of human activities in its drainage basin. Consequently, it exhibits some characteristics typical of an advanced trophic state; namely, the disappearance of submerged vegetation, the permanently intense phytoplankton growth and the recurrence of cyanoprokaryote blooms. As cyanoprokaryote dominance in south-temperate saline lagoons is little reported, we carried out this study in order to understand the seasonal variations in the phytoplankton composition and biomass, and to analyse the influence of environmental parameters such as salinity, nutrients and climate on the seasonal succession of species. In this lagoon, the phytoplankton was permanently dominated by cyanoprokaryotes, probably because of high availability of nutrients, low light penetration in the water column and frequent turbulent mixing induced by wind. The two most abundant species Planktothrix agardhii (in winter–spring) and Pseudanabaena limnetica (in summer) have low light requirements and are well adapted to a high mixing frequency, which defines the S1 functional group in Reynolds' typology for phytoplankton. Although widely studied in north-temperate lakes, blooms of these typically freshwater species are almost unreported in the Mediterranean area, especially in brackish ecosystems that are not their normal habitat. In the Bolmon lagoon, all their requirements for nutrients, light and mixing are satisfied and they seem to cope with a moderate presence of salt but P. agardhii was less competitive than P. limnetica at highest salinities, the latter being probably more halophytic. Contrary to the observations in lakes located at higher latitudes, the Mediterranean climate seems to induce a typical seasonal pattern of succession characterised by the dominance of P. agardhii (winter) – Chroococcales (spring) – Pseudanabaenaceae (summer) – P. agardhii (autumn, winter). The warm temperatures seemed to have a major influence on the phytoplankton succession, being responsible for the survival of Planktothrix during winter and its rapid and intense development in early spring. Intense mixing and high irradiance in summer promoted the development of Pseudanabaenaceae, as reported in another south-temperate lagoon, the Albufera of Valencia (Spain). The ecological success of Oscillatoriales observed in the Bolmon lagoon is a perfect example of a shift to the “turbid stable state” as proposed for freshwater shallow lakes only. Our work demonstrated that hypereutrophic Mediterranean lagoons can function very similarly to shallow lakes at higher latitudes; but the warmer climate and higher irradiances are probably responsible for differences in the seasonal pattern of species dominance.     

Experimental Study on Friction Coefficient Between Concrete and the Top Surface of Rubble Mound Foundation

Experimental studies on the friction coefficient between concrete and the top surface of a rubble mound foundation in China are reviewed. Through comparison of different test results, the development of this research is comprehensively analyzed. An experiment is carried out in the condition similar to prototype. The process curve of friction coefficient with the test block sliding is analyzed and a standard for determination of the friction coetfficient is defined. The variation features of the friction coefficient are analyzed on the basis of the present experimental results and other studies in China. It is shown that the friction coettfficient between concrete and the top surface of a rubble mound foundation decreases with the increase of the foundation pressure, and the friction coettqcient for a very fine leveling bed is smaller than that for a fine leveling bed.     

南四湖湖内浅槽工程施工对水环境的影响及控制措施

南四湖湖内工程是沂沭泗河洪水东调南下续建工程的单项工程,工程区位于山东省省级自然保护区内;挖泥船施工将对湖内水环境产生一定影响。本文从排泥场回水污染物、生产废水和生活污水三个方面阐述了工程施工对水环境的影响程度,并且提出了相应的控制措施。     

Numerical modeling of long waves in shallow water using Incremental Differential Quadrature Method

Incremental Differential Quadrature Method (IDQM) as a rapid and accurate method for numerical simulation of Nonlinear Shallow Water (NLSW) waves is employed. To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first endeavor to exploit DQM in coastal hydraulics. The one-dimensional NLSW equations and related boundary conditions are discretized in space and temporal directions by DQM rules and the resulting system of equations are used to compute the state variables in the entire computational domain. It was found that the splitting of total simulation time into a number of smaller time increments, could significantly enhance the performance of the proposed method. Furthermore, results of this study show two main advantages for IDQM compared with other conventional methods, namely; unconditional stability and minimal computational effort. Indeed, using IDQM, one can use a few grid points (in spatial or time direction) without imposing any stability condition on the time step to obtain an accurate convergent solution.     

REE distribution in water-sediment interface system at deep ocean floor

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黄茅海河口湾现代动力地貌体系和冲淤过程分析

1980—1993年对黄茅海河口湾进行沉积物采样和水流测定及水深测量。根据水动力和地形条件，冲淤分析及Mclaren模型研究河口湾的动力地貌体系、冲淤特征和现代沉积物运移。结果表明：（1）水下地形主要为下泄流或上溯流控制的“深槽－槽沟－浅滩－湾口”的动力地貌体系，反映了河口湾“东进西出”的水流格局；（2）整个河口湾以淤积为主，只有崖门深槽有较明显的优势冲刷特征，并随着崖门深槽向海推移和河口湾“东进西出”水动力作用，黄茅海落潮三角洲相应向西南进积；（3）应用Mclaren模型揭示了黄茅海河口湾现代沉积物运移规律，同样反映了河口湾具有“东进西出”的运移趋势。