The fate of Chernobyl radiocesium in the River Öre catchment,northern Sweden

A¹³⁷Cs-balance for the catchment of the River Öre in central northern Sweden which received about 30 kBq m^–2 of radiocesium from the Chernobyl accident was calculated for the period 1986–1991. Altogether, slightly less than 10% of the total deposition in the catchment was estimated to be exported from the terrestrial parts during this period of time. More than 90% of this loss is transported with the River Öre to the outer sea of the Gulf of Bothnia. The retention in Lake Örträsket which is the only lake along the river course and the Öre Estuary outside the river mouth was thus slightly less than 10%. Nearly all of the radiocesium deposited in the lake is permanently retained in the sediments and successively covered with less radioactive sediment. A considerable export of radiocesium from the estuary to the outer sea takes place due to resuspension and subsequent transport by wind and wave generated currents.     

High resolution time series of lead and zinc in sediments of Lake Constance

Sediments in Lake Constance have been dated by radiometric methods and lamination counting. Investigations into the concentrations of lead and zinc in the sediments were carried out to get detailed information about environmental history. Maximum concentrations were found at the beginning of the 1960's. The lead maximum contamination occurred 3 years before the zinc maximum and has an unidentified source. The use of coal, leaded gasoline or the remobilization within the sediment could be excluded to result in the lead maximum. The fluctuations in zinc contamination could be explained with increasing and decreasing pollution (industry, coal burning, building of sewage plants). The greatest fluctuations of both metals occur during periods of great change in the economic history of Germany.     

我国首次发现的碳氢钠石

碳氢钠石是一种无水碱金属碳酸盐矿物,最初发现于美国的绿河盆地。一九八二年,在我国河南省泌阳凹陷首次发现。该矿物的化学成分是Na_2CO_3和NaHCO_3,分子式是:Na_2CO_3·3NaHCO_3。该矿物晶体呈板状,无色透明,主要产在重碳钠盐组成的碱矿层中。经测试确定,该矿物属二轴晶负光性,主折射率:Ng=1.531,Nm=1.524,Np=1.435,2V=31.45°;晶胞参数:a=10.046,b=15.633,c=3.492,a=92°8′,β=95。42′,γ=108°34′;最强的粉晶衍射线有:3.70(35),2.97(100),2.67(41),2.213(60);主要的红外光谱吸收带是:2616,1692,1662,1359,1048,1018,839,677cm_(-1)。据碳氢钠石的产状和共生组合特征,该矿物产于富钠,高P_(CO_2)的碳酸盐型内陆盐湖,是较高温度条件下快速蒸发的产物。     

The Initiation of the "Little Ice Age" in Regions Round the North Atlantic

The "Little Ice Age" was the most recent period during which glaciers extended globally, their fronts oscillating about advanced positions. It is frequently taken as having started in the sixteenth or seventeenth century and ending somewhere between 1850 and 1890, but Porter (1981) pointed out that the "Little Ice Age" may 'have begun at least three centuries earlier in the North Atlantic region than is generally inferred'. The glacial fluctuations of the last millennium have been traced in the greatest detail in the Swiss Alps, where the "Little Ice Age" is now seen as starting with advances in the thirteenth century, and reaching an initial culmination in the fourteenth century. In the discussion here, evidence from Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Spitsbergen and Scandinavia is compared with that from Switzerland. Such comparisons have been facilitated by improved methods of calibrating radiocarbon dates to calendar dates and by increasing availability of evidence revealed during the current retreat phase. It is concluded that the "Little Ice Age" was initiated before the early fourteenth century in regions surrounding the North Atlantic.     

青藏高原北缘哈拉湖近800年来 湖泊沉积及其环境意义*

文章以青藏高原北缘高山祁连山湖泊——哈拉湖作为研究对象,利用放射性核素²¹⁰ Pb和¹³⁷ Cs测年资料,通过对此高海拔湖泊沉积碳酸盐氧碳同位素、碳酸盐含量、总有机碳含量、磁化率等环境代用指标的分析,揭示了这一地区近800年来的气候环境变化过程。分析表明哈拉湖记录的气候环境变化经历了3个阶段:1206~1700A.D.环境较为寒冷、湿润,并有持续变湿的趋势;1700~1920A.D.环境由冷湿的状况趋向温暖干旱,1771年之后,环境保持相对稳定;1920~2002A.D.是自1206年以来最为温暖干旱的阶段。     

岱海14 C测年的现代碳库效应研究*

碳库效应的复杂性是影响建立湖泊沉积物高精度年代序列的一大障碍。本项研究通过我国内蒙古半干旱区封闭湖泊表层沉积物、湖水、现生沉水植物狐尾藻、现生鲤鱼鱼骨和湖岸表层土壤等一系列样品的¹⁴ C年代测定,表明现代岱海确实存在碳库效应。碳库效应年龄因湖水盐度在湖区的不均而有所变化,岱海西部湖区弓坝河径流补给量大,湖水盐度较东部稍低,碳库效应年龄也略小于东部湖区。表层沉积物中有机质包含浮游生物和沉水植物的混合信息,因而其碳库效应年龄较沉水植物年龄轻,岱海湖心表层沉积物碳库效应年龄在2000a左右。这一碳库效应年龄较通过沉积钻孔¹⁴ C年龄线性回归获得的年龄偏大,可能的原因是在时间序列上碳库效应并非恒定。     

博斯腾湖湖泊沉积物光释光年代测量*

使用光释光年代学的单片再生法测量了博斯腾湖沉积剖面中碳酸盐泥及粉砂质泥底部的浅湖相灰色粉细砂和风成沙的年龄,对剖面上部碳酸盐层中陆生植物残体进行了AMS ¹⁴ C测年。通过不同测片的等效剂量(D_e)值的分布状况评价了样品的晒褪程度,选择不随灵敏度校正后的自然释光信号变化的相对集中的等效剂量(D_e)值计算了样品的埋藏年龄。通过这些年龄结果的对比,发现石英矿物的OSL年龄和AMS ¹⁴ C年龄在地层上是一致的,表明尽管在浅湖相细砂中存在不完全晒褪,但根据相对较小而集中的D_e值计算得到的年龄结果是可靠的。这些年龄结果和地层资料揭示末次冰消期以来至早全新世,博斯腾湖处于无水干盆地向深水湖泊转化的浅水湖泊状态,现代深水博斯腾湖大约形成于距今8ka前后。     

末次冰期东亚季风快速波动的模式与成因

通过对位于东亚季风区中东部与西部边缘的两个高分辨率黄土剖面记录的对比研究，发现它们不仅捕捉到了20个Dansgaard Oeschger事件与6个Heinrich事件，而且黄土记录与GRIP冰芯记录的这些快速气候波动基本上是同步的。暗示在整个末次冰期，东亚季风气候同样存在千年—百年尺度上的快速波动。所不同的是，西面的沙沟剖面对这些快速气候波动的反应比东面的王官剖面敏感。结合末次冰期中国黄土记录的先前研究结果，我们发现，自西向东Dansgaard Oeschger旋回的幅度逐渐变小，推测这主要是由西风与东亚夏季风共同作用所造成的。     

Installation of a vertical slurry wall around an Italian quarry lake: complications arising and simulation of the effects on groundwater flow

Slurry walls are non-structural barriers that are constructed underground to impede groundwater flow or manage groundwater control problems. The study area is in the Piemonte plain (Italy), close to the River Po. Quarrying works carried out below the piezometric surface created two big quarry lakes. The local groundwater system is characterized by a lower semi-confined aquifer, which is overlain by a semi-permeable bed of clayey peat (aquitard) and an upper unconfined aquifer. Locally, the peat fades away and the granulometry of this horizon becomes silty sandy. A planned enlargement of the quarry will increase the size and depth of the quarry lakes. So the aquitard bed between the two aquifers will be damaged, creating a mixing rate of groundwater. Such a procedure would not be compatible with the presence of two municipal wells upstream from the quarries. Consequently, the installation of a vertical diaphragm (slurry wall) is recommended to separate the aquifers and to act as a filter for the groundwater flowing from the unconfined to the semi-confined aquifer. To predict the consequences caused by the installation of the vertical diaphragm separating the unconfined aquifer and the semi-confined one, a specifically adjusted finite-difference model was used. The model showed a maximum rising of the water table equal to 12 cm, just upstream of the diaphragm and for a distance of about 100 m, and a maximum lowering of 2 cm just downstream of the diaphragm. However, the slurry wall would not cause any change in the piezometric head in the area where there are municipal wells and, hence, will not have any negative effect on the functionality of the municipal wells. Moreover, the migration of water from the unconfined aquifer through the vertical diaphragm will stimulate a series of attenuation and auto-depuration processes of eventual contaminants. These processes are due to the higher crossing time that the groundwater flow takes to go through the vertical barrier (t _a = 96.5 days, whereas for the horizontal semi-permeable layer t _a = 9.6 days). So, the vertical diaphragm can be a resolutive element, representing a mediation and separation factor between the unconfined and the semi-confined aquifers along the border of the quarrying areas, and a protective barrier for the water quality of the quarry lake and the semi-confined aquifer.