Measurement of the total nitrogen in lake sediments： Comparison and its environmental significance

Nitrogen cycle is an important bio-geochemical process in the environment. Measurement of the total nitrogen （TN） is a routine experiment in agriculture, biology and environmental sciences. The Kjeldahl method （KM） and elemental analyzer method （EA） are both commonly used to determine TN. Total nitrogen by EA is the sum of nitrate （NO3）, nitrite （NO2）, organic nitrogen and ammonia. Total nitrogen by KM （TKN） is made up of both organic nitrogen and ammonia. A comparative study focused on the two methods is conducted by analysis of TN in 97 samples from the sediment sequence of Gouchi, a salt lake in North China. KM presents a higher degree of accuracy than EA with a standard deviation of 0.007 vs. 0.024. With the presence of nitrate and/or nitrite nitrogen, however, measurement by KM is considerably lower than that by EA. Therefore, for samples from lake sediment sequences or soils in North China, KM is inapplicable to determining TN because of usually high contents of nitrous salt. Despite the inconsistency, use of both methods to the same samples makes sense in reconstructions of climatic and environmental changes from lake sediments. In Lake Gouchi, the contents of nitrate and nitrite nitrogen vary from 1.40% in the lower part of the sequence to 14.77% in the uppermost part, suggesting a gradual evolution process from a fresh water lake to the present-day salt lake.     

Environmental impacts from mining at Taojiang Mn ore deposit, central Hunan, China

The Taojiang Mn ore deposit was exploited in the early 1960s, and waste rocks were developed since then. Because the Mn ores were hosted within the metal-enriched black shales （Peng et al., 2004）, the continuous mining has led to the exposure of an immense quality of black shales, which might cause serious impacts on environments. The present study deals with this environmental issue with samples from the waste rocks, and from the surrounding soils and surface water. The mineralogy of the waste rock was studied using EMPA, then a large number of elements in all waste rock, soil, and water samples were analyzed at a wide range of concentrations with high accuracy using an Elan6000 ICP-MS machine at Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The waste rock is composed mostly of black shales, with minor Mn carbonates. Both black shales and Mn carbonates of the waste rock contain many sulfide minerals, mainly pyrite, with minor galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, and others. The waste rocks are enriched in many metals including Sc, V, Cr, Co, Ni, Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Pb, Th, U, Mo, Sb, Sn, Tl, and others, and the metals are mostly hosted within the sulfides. Weathering of waste rocks might cause emission of the following metals： V, Cd, Ni, Th, U, Mo, Sb, Tl, Sc, Cr, Cu, Zn, Sn, and minor Co, and Pb. The surrounding soils are highly enriched in Cr, Co, Cu, Zn, Mn, Mo, Cd, Tl, and Pb, with the enrichment factors of 2.67.3.8, 7.26, 7.27, 8.2, 5.7, 13, and 5.4, respectively. The element ratios （Rb/Cs, Fe/Mn, Nb/Zr, Hf/Zr, and Ba/Sr） and REE distribution patterns of the soils are similar to those of the waste rocks and bedrocks.     

Environmental aspects of selected trace metals in soils and waters surrounding Singaran Nala, Raniganj Coalfield

The Raniganj Coalfield is the oldest coalfield in India that has been continuously and extensively mined since the late eighteenth century. The present study reports a geochemical investigation and environmental quality assessment using soil and water in the area surrounding a stream, locally known as Singaran Nala （Nala means storm water drains in Bengali）, in the Raniganj Coalfield. Soil （top soil, mud, silty clay and laterite） and rock samples （sandstone and shale） were collected from the study area and were analyzed for trace metals （Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni and Zn）. Surface waters from the stream and the Damodar River as well as ground waters from hand pumps and underground mine pits were collected. Water samples were analyzed for major ions （Na^＋, Ca^2＋, Mg^2＋, Cl^-, HNO3^- and SO4^2-） and trace metals （Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, and Zn）. Trace metal concentrations in soil samples are found higher than the average world soil composition. Nevertheless, trace metal （Cr, Cu, Ni and Zn） concentrations in soils exceed or reach the maximum allowable concentrations （MAC） proposed by the European Commission for agricultural soils. In particular, Ni concentrations exceed the typical value for cultivated soils. Chromium, Cu and Ni concentrations in laterite and Cr concentration in topsoil exceed the ecotoxicological limit.     

Geochemistry of soils derived from black shale, central Hunan, China

The black shale formed under anoxic conditions usually contains high concentrations of many metals. Weathering of such black shale might cause the emission of many metals. Moreover, soils derived from black shale （SBS） are believed to be affected by black shale weathering. In recent years, many studies such as Lee et al. （2002）, Woo et al. （2002）, Fang et al. （2002）, Pasava et al. （2003）, and Peng et al. （2004） have approached the heavy metal contaminations of SBS, but systematical geochemical study is rare. Presently, the SBS and its corresponding black shales （CBS） were both sampled from central Hunan （China）, and analyzed for a large number of elements, using an Elan6000 ICP-MS/AES machine at Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, CAS. In this paper, some preliminary results are reported. The analytical results show that the SBS in central Hunan contains very high concentrations of heavy metals such as Co, Cu, Hg, Mo, Pb, Zn, U, Th, Sb, T1, Cd, Cr, Sc, V, Sn, As, Se, and Ni.     

Selenium contamination in the Colorado River Basin, western USA： Remediation by leaching and nanof＇dtration membranes

Selenium （Se） is an essential micronutrient to biota, but can become a potent toxicant at elevated concentrations. The natural sources and chemical properties of Se species make the boundary between deficiency and toxicity narrow for some biota, with both phenomena common around the globe. Large areas of farmland in the Colorado River Basin （CRB） generate salinized drainage water with Se concentrations much higher than 5 μg/L, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chronic water-quality criterion for the protection of aquatic life. We have carried out detailed field and laboratory studies to investigate Se geochemistry and remediation in two of these areas： the Middle Green River Basin, Utah and the Salton Sea Basin, California, located respectively in the Upper and Lower CRB. Results from these and other studies show that approximately 90% of the dissolved Se in the Colorado River and its tributaries originally is derived from the Upper Cretaceous Mancos Shale and equivalent pyritic marine units that outcrop in the Upper CRB. Selenium is mobilized commonly by biogeochemical oxidation of this pyritic shale and is concentrated mainly as selenate （SeO4^2-） in soils and agricultural drainage water of dry climates by evaporation. Minor （0%-5%） amounts of Se are present as the selenite species （HSeO3^-） and （SEO3^2-）, but these species and the more reduced species, elemental Se （SeO） and selenide （Se^2-）, have much lower solubility and/or have high sorptive affinity towards organic matter, clay minerals and iron oxyhydroxides. The concentration of dissolved Se （-2.5 μg/L） and salinity in the Lower Colorado River water are among the highest of the world major rivers. Because of low precipitation （7 cm/a） and extreme evapotranspiration （-1.8 m/a） rates in the Salton Sea Basin, California, Se values in irrigation water imported from the Colorado River increase to 〉300 μg/L in drainage wastewater. Removal of Se from contaminated wastewater by nanofiltration membranes was demonstrated in laboratory and pilot-scale field experiments.     

Analysis of the effect of geology, soil properties, and land use on groundwater quality using multivariate statistical and GIS methods

The regional survey of groundwater used as a small water supply system was performed to know the effect of geology, soil properties and land use on groundwater quality at Nonsan City, Korea. A total of 126 groundwater samples were collected and analyzed at the study area. The multivariate statistical methods, principal components analysis and discriminant analysis, and GIS technique were used for the quantitative interpretation of groundwater quality. The study area is mainly composed of Precambrian gneiss, Jurassic granite, and Cretaceous volcanics, and metasedimentary rocks of the Ogcheon zone. The land use was grouped as paddy, upland, grassland, resident, point source, industrial area, and water system. The soil properties were classified as 4 major groups, Entisols, Alfisols, Inceptisols, and Ultisols, by the degree of development, and reclassified as 11 subgroups. The modified and simplified geologic map, soil map, and land use map were made by using ARCGIS soft-ware. The area of geology, soil property, and land use affecting the groundwater quality for each well were also calculated by ARCGIS soft-ware to acquire the quantitative parameters for multivariate statistical analysis. The monitoring results of groundwater in the study area showed that 13%-21% of the groundwater samples exceeded the portable water guideline and the main causes were turbidity, bacteria, arsenic and nitrate-N. The spatial distribution of each component showed the close relationship between groundwater quality and geology reflecting the topography, land use.     

Quantitative study of landscape patterns in homogenous carbonate rock distributed regions in Guizhou

With the utilization of GIS software, research is conducted on （a） the characteristics of cells, fragmentation, and patch fractal of landscape based on homogenous carbonate rocks in Guizhou; （b） causes of the formation of these characteristics. It has been found that under the influence of lithology, the landscape of the study region as a whole shows consistency, yet embodies distinct diversity inside. The consistency is embodied in the following aspects： （a） the preponderant landscape consists of bushes and small woods; （b） secondary landscape is characteristic of forests and grounds covered with grass; （c） of all the patches making up the study area small patches are in the majority, with positive-skewed distribution of patches-as a result, steep peaks are characteristic of the charts showing the distribution of patches. The factor of scale is not taken into account in the study of patches. The shapes of patches tend to be regular with strong disturbances from human activities, and consequently, the values of fractal dimensions of landscape types tend to get smaller. The fragmentation of patches is more apparent in landscape under influence of human activities than the one without these disturbances. Compared with regions characteristic of homogenous dolomite, the characteristics of homogenous limestone areas are described as follows： （a） low utilization rate of water resource; （b） uneven distribution of diversified landscape; （c） weak resistance against disturbances from human activities; （d） the continuous degradation, ever-increasing fragmentation, intensification of spatial heterogeneity, and the deteriorating stability of landscape.