Utilization of sodium waterglass from sugar cane bagasse ash as a new alternative hardener for producing metakaolin-based geopolymer cement

Sugar cane bagasse ash from SOSUCAM company in Cameroon was used to synthesize sodium waterglass as a new alternative hardener. The new hardener was used to prepare metakaolin-based geopolymer cements. The compressive strength of the resulting geopolymer cement cured at room temperature for 28 days was 32.9 MPa. Samples soaked for 28 days in water in parallel experiments revealed a strength of 31.4 MPa. This shows that exposure of water does not lead to any weakening. The value of water absorption was 7.1% in the water-soaked cements, indicating the presence of fewer pores and voids than in the dry cements. However, in SEM micrographs, the microstructure of geopolymer cement appears rather homogeneous and compact without any change by water soaking. It can thus be concluded that sodium waterglass from sugar cane bagasse ash can be used as an alternative hardener or reactive ingredient for producing geopolymer cement with a high degree of cross-linking geopolymer framework. The use of this low-value silica-rich waste for producing sodium waterglass results in environmental benefits including a significant reduction of CO₂ emission and energy consumption compared to the production of commercial sodium waterglass.     

Hydrogeochemical characteristics of mine water in the Harz Mountains,Germany

Water samples (springs, creeks, mine adits) from different former mining districts of the Harz Mountains and the nearby Kupferschiefer (copper shale) basin of Sangerhausen were analysed for major ions and trace metals. Due to more intensive water rock interactions including the ore minerals, the mine water concentrations of main components and trace metals are generally higher compared to non mining affected surface waters of the mountain range. Furthermore, the content of major ions in mine water is enriched by mixing processes with saline waters from Permian layers in the Kupferschiefer district and at the deeper levels of the mines in the Upper Harz Mountains. The waters of the different mining districts can be distinguished by trace metal occurrences and concentrations derived from the different ore bodies. Water from the Kupferschiefer mines shows the highest Na, Cl, Cu, Mo and U concentrations, whereas a combination of elevated As and Se concentrations is typical for most of the samples from the mines around St. Andreasberg. However, there are exceptions, and some water samples of all the investigated mining districts do not follow these general trends. Despite the influence of mining activities and ore mineralisation, hydrochemical effects due to rain water dilution can be seen in most of the waters. According to the elevation of the mountain range, higher precipitation rates decrease the ion concentrations in the waters of springs, creeks and mine adits.     

Framing community entitlements to water in Accra,Ghana: A complex reality

Entitlements are generally defined as the commodities/resources (material and non-material), through which one can establish ownership or command access to resources. Applying this analytic to a case study of everyday water access in Accra, Ghana, we evaluate community water entitlements in two low-income communities with different locational and socio-cultural characteristics. We also evaluate how different entitlements to water map against variable dimensions of vulnerability. The study uses a mixed methods approach including a 200 household survey, focus groups with community members, and semi-structured interviews with local opinion leaders. Our results indicate that in both study communities, an entitlements approach provides a significantly richer portrait of water access beyond availability of piped water infrastructure. Among other factors that are important to everyday negotiations and entitlements related to water access, it is important to consider familial and kin networks, water storing options available to households and vendors, the distance and waiting time to fetch water, and local leaders' perceptions of water issues, particularly how these compare with broader citizen understandings. In this way, an entitlements approach broadens the perspective beyond infrastructural endowments (e.g. piped water), to include a range of other socioeconomic, socio-cultural and local institutional characteristics. Drawing on the empirical examples, as well as related conceptual debates, the study questions how water access is defined, and how water governance processes might benefit from a broader understanding of entitlements, as well as links to differentiated vulnerabilities, notably in times of water-related stress or scarcity.     

Dangerous assemblages: Salts,trihalomethanes and endocrine disruptors in the water palimpsest of the Llobregat River,Catalonia

Water flows through time are connected to specific instances of socionatural and sociotechnical assemblages of human and non-human components. We propose the concept of “water palimpsest” in order to characterize the complex histories of chemical and metabolic alterations embodied in water flows, potentially disruptive for humans and other living beings. Through the concept of palimpsest we interpret the configuration of water flows as constantly evolving towards new patterns maintaining at the same time traces of past mixtures. In order to decipher water pollution by means of a political ecology approach we argue that it is necessary to characterize the historical contours under which certain substances in river waters appear, interact and become hazardous. Engaging critically with literature on assemblages but also with chemical and epidemiological scientific literature, and drawing from archival and oral sources, we provide an account of historically produced pollution in the waters of Llobregat River (Catalonia) by unravelling the assemblages that shape the water palimpsest in this river. In parallel, we narrate the advances in instrumentation and analysis which permitted to detect and measure substances beyond recognition by human senses and preceded legal regulations on pollutants, starting from milligrams and (thus far) arriving at nanoscales. Focusing on the emergence of three typologies of pollutants – salts, trihalomethanes (THMs) and endocrine disruptors (EDs) – we unveil how these three assemblages embody specific instances of Llobregat socioenvironmental history, pointing towards a palimpsest characterized by increasing levels of complexity and uncertainty. The concept of water palimpsest allows us to incorporate non-human agency into the analysis of water quality and to infuse political ecology with materiality and thus with a (largely missing) focus on physicochemical and biological processes.     

Cretocrenis burmanicus,the first Mesozoic amber inclusion of a water scavenger beetle (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae)

Cretocrenis burmanicus, gen. et sp. nov. is described from Burmese amber and represents the oldest known amber inclusion of the family Hydrophilidae (Coleoptera: Polyphaga). The new genus resembles the small-bodied modern genera of the tribe Anacaenini and the subfamily Acidocerinae, and the morphology of the venter and male genitalia suggest that it belongs to the Horelophus+Crenitis clade of the tribe Anacaenini. The fossil is described in detail, illustrated, and compared with extant hydrophilid genera.     

胶东大尹格庄金矿床热液蚀变作用

胶东是我国最重要的金矿集区。其中,破碎带蚀变岩型———"焦家式"金矿床是区内最重要的金矿床类型,占胶东已探明金矿资源量的90%以上。大尹格庄金矿床位于胶西北招平断裂带中段,是典型的破碎带蚀变岩型金矿床,区内发育有大规模的绢英岩化蚀变带(宽20~200m)和钾化/红化蚀变带(宽50~300m),蚀变岩型金矿体主要发育在招-平断裂带下盘的绢英岩化蚀变带中。本文在详细的野外地质观测基础上,查清了大尹格庄金矿床蚀变类型及矿物组合特征,针对大尹格庄金矿床Ⅱ号矿体系统采集了不同蚀变类型的岩石样品,进行了岩石元素地球化学分析,运用质量平衡方法讨论了热液蚀变过程中元素迁移规律,初步探讨了大尹格庄金矿床热液蚀变作用过程和金沉淀机制。通过本研究得出:大尹格庄金矿床内主要矿石类型为黄铁绢英岩,以浸染状、细脉状为主要矿化形式。大尹格庄金矿床热液蚀变期在时间上可以划分为:钾化/红化→绢英岩化→黄铁绢英岩化→碳酸盐化。钾化/红化蚀变为成矿前蚀变,在此过程中有少量热液钾长石的形成。在地球化学方面表现为Fe、Cu、Pb和Rb元素带入,Si、Al、Na、Ca、Ba、Sr、Cr等元素带出。同时流体-围岩通过交代反应使金从围岩中释放出来成为高价态离子活化进入成矿流体。绢英岩化和黄铁绢英岩化蚀变为成矿期蚀变,蚀变过程中与矿化有关的Fe、Cu、Pb元素表现为迁入状态,流体运移过程中,热液中的HS~-等组分损失,导致Au(HS)~(2-)络合物失稳分解,Fe~(2+)、Fe~(3+)被消耗形成黄铁矿,同时金大量聚集沉淀,此时完成了金由活化→迁移→沉淀富集成矿过程。     

3S在耕地保护动态监管中的关键技术研究

随着3S技术的发展和逐渐成熟,应用也越来越多,该文主要利用RS技术快速获取遥感卫星影像数据,利用GPS技术获取动态监测数据,利用GIS的可视化技术和强大的空间分析功能,整合建立全省整治项目数据库,依托于省国土资源内网,遵循山东省国土资源系统"一个平台,两个市场"实施方案技术要求,充分利用现有网络、软硬件等基础设施,建立省、市、县三级国土资源耕地保护管理全业务、全流程的网上运行和全程监管机制,构建全省统一的耕地保护动态监管网络体系,实现了对耕地保护的动态监管,为耕地的"先补后占,占补平衡"提供了可靠的保障。     

An insight into the performance of benthic classification indices tested in Eastern Mediterranean coastal waters

This work evaluates four indices that have been used for benthic macroinvertebrate ecological quality classification in the Mediterranean Sea. Our study was based on the data obtained from the participation of Greece and Cyprus in the Mediterranean Geographical Intercalibration group. The indices AMBI, M-AMBI, MEDOCC and BENTIX were applied to the available benthic species data, and the succession of the ecological groups along the graded values of each index was plotted. The level of agreement among methods was calculated, and the performance of each method in estimating ecological quality status was evaluated. AMBI, based on the Atlantic model, and its derivative M-AMBI overestimated the statuses, while MEDOCC showed the best level of agreement with BENTIX. BENTIX gives equal weight to tolerant and opportunistic species groups, which correlates them more closely than the other indices and makes BENTIX the most sensitive in detecting ecological disturbances in the Eastern Mediterranean basin, where tolerant and opportunistic groups seem to play an equally important role in the response of benthic communities to stressors.     

Using δN values in algal tissue to map locations and potential sources of anthropogenic nutrient inputs on the island of Maui, Hawai‘i, USA

Macroalgal blooms of Hypnea musciformis and Ulvafasciata in coastal waters of Maui only occur in areas of substantial anthropogenic nutrient input, sources of which include wastewater effluent via injection wells, leaking cesspools and agricultural fertilizers. Algal δ¹⁵N signatures were used to map anthropogenic nitrogen through coastal surveys (island-wide and fine-scale) and algal deployments along nearshore and offshore gradients. Algal δ¹⁵N values of 9.8‰ and 2.0-3.5‰ in Waiehu and across the north-central coast, respectively, suggest that cesspool and agricultural nitrogen reached the respective adjacent coastlines. Effluent was detected in areas proximal to the Wastewater Reclamation Facilities (WWRF) operating Class V injection wells in Lahaina, Kihei and Kahului through elevated algal δ¹⁵N values (17.8-50.1‰). From 1997 to 2008, the three WWRFs injected an estimated total volume of 193 million cubic meters (51 billion gallons) of effluent with a nitrogen mass of 1.74 million kilograms (3.84 million pounds).