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.     

广州科学城保利林语山庄高边坡支护工程的实践

主要介绍了广州科学城保利林语山庄高边坡支护设计方案与施工方法。支护方案综合采用了锚索、锚杆、抗滑桩、钢管桩、格构梁及挡土墙等多种支护方法，有效地提高了边坡的稳定性。应用有限元方法来验证设计方案的合理性，模拟结果与工程实践基本吻合。     

THE INFLUENCE OF FERTILIZERS, NaHCO3,SOIL TYPE ON CHEMISTRY OF FLOODED SOILS AND RICE PLANT GROWTH

1 INTRODUCTIONQuality of chemical properties of flooded soils isgenerally determined by salinity and alkalinity,bothof these acts as inhibiting factors of plant growth.Thecorrelation of electrical conductivity and other analysisindex has been reported by …     

Speciation analysis and significance of ecological geochemistry

Different species of one element have different activities, so it has different effects on environment and human health. To analyze qualitatively and quantitatively the speciation of a special element in sample, which is the important basis for appraising the toxicity and studying the rule of transfer and translation of elements. Since the 1970＇s, the scheme of sequential extraction has already been used at many laboratories both at home and abroard, to get the information about heavy metals＇ activity in polluted soils. Because this method has the experimental nature, many schemes of problem has taken place, the absence of consistency of these sequential extraction have been formed. Thus the complexity of the schemes, the lack of selectivity of reagent, the lack of quality control, the result mainly related to the extraction scheme used, and so on. In the face of these problems, the study of experimental methods of sequential extraction on three different soils, sediment in Dongting Lake, soil in Jiangsu Province and loess in Shanxi Province was made. Reference materials of heavy metal speciation following sequential extraction in soil and sediment had been developed. Nowadays two kinds of sequential extraction methods which are widely used are BCR （three steps） and improved Tessier methods （seven steps）. Based on three steps of BCR, water-soluble speciation and the residual speciation were increased in our research. BCR701 was determined eight times at different laboratories using BCR three steps. The results showed that determined data obtained eight times were identical to the standard value, and it is indicated that this method has good reproducibility. The stability and homogeneity experiments indicated that the preparation of three types of candidates accorded with our requirements. Eight laboratories had afforded the determined values of 12 heavy metal elements （Cu, Pb, Zn, Mn, Co, Ni, Cd, Cr, Mo, As, Sb, Hg, Se et al.） using BCR three steps. Also, these three candidates afforded the determined values by seven steps, and 12 laboratories had participated.     

Total gaseous mercury emissions from mercury-enriched soil in Guizhou, China

Guizhou is located in the Circum-Pacific Global Mercuriferous Belt, and mercury concentrations in soil in this area are enriched. In-situ total gaseous mercury （TGM） exchange fluxes between air and soil surface were intensively measured at four sampling sites in Guiyang from 21 May to 16 June, 2003, and five sites in the Lanmuchang mercury mining area in December 2002 and May 2003, respectively. The in-situ Hg flux measurement was conducted with a dynamic flux chamber （DFC） of quartz. Overall, net emissions were obtained from all sampling sites. Soil mercury concentration and solar radiation have been proved to be the two most important parameters to control mercury emissions from soil. Meanwhile, rain events can enhance mercury emission rate significantly.