Heavy metal and arsenic distributions in soils surrounding Palapye, Botswana： An evaluation of environmental impact of coal mining and combustion in a sub-arid region

Coal is an important natural resource in Botswana. The best coals so far found occur in the Morupule coalfield, west of Palapye, where nearly 8000 million tons have been identified （Carney et al., 1994）. In this study we investigate the environmental impact of the mining and consumption of the high-ash, medium-calorific value bituminous coal in the eastern part of Botswana, which may serve as a reference for other coal mines and coal-based power stations around the globe. More than two hundred surface soil samples and three profile soil samples were collected around Morupule Colliery, Morupule Power Station and Palapye.     

A geochemical study of redox behavior of As in a contaminated aquifer from Sonargaon, Central Bangladesh

The Bengal Basin has been exposed to the most serious As problem in the world. Although it has been agreed well among many researchers that the contamination has been induced by natural geochemical process, detailed mechanisms are still under debate. Arsenic is easily soluble into groundwater as pentavalent arsenate and trivalent arsenite. Their adsorption behavior for various solid phases, particularly for Fe oxyhydroxide （FeOOH）, is different. Thus speciation of As in solid phase is essential to examine the process of contamination. However, few studies have been done about As speciation in sediment due to its analytical difficulty. In this study, we applied XANES （X-ray adsorption near the edge structure） spectroscopy to determine oxidation states of As and Fe, and investigate As behavior along change in redox condition. We studied the Sonargaon area located 25 km southeast of Dhaka. Sediment core samples were collected from one site in the area up to the depth of 100 m using penetration-drilling method. The samples were packed into oxygen impermeable film with deoxidizer on site,     

Environmental geochemistry of arsenic in sediment-water interface of Poyang Lake, China

Environmental pollution is one of the vertical problems faced in the 21 century. There are numbers of lakes located in China. Poyang Lake, which is the largest freshwater lake in China, is the famous representation. The environmental geochemistry of trace and ultra-trace element As in the sediment-water interface （SWI） of Poyang Lake was investigated in detail. Solutions presented in the project can be summarized as follows： it is the first time to discover that the ：nasking agent of 8-hydroxyquinoline was found to be an efficient agent to eliminate the interference of transition metals in the determination of arsenic species, especially to eliminate As （Ⅴ） emission with high selection in the matrix of As （Ⅲ） and As （Ⅴ） coexisting solution. A sensitive and interference-free procedure has been successfully established for the arsenic speciation on As （Ⅲ）, As （Ⅴ）, Asorg in pore water samples using flowing injection hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry （FI-HG-AFS）. It was observed that the concentrations of arsenic species in porewaters were relatively high. With the variation of the redox in sediments, it is easy to cause the second pollution in overlying waters for their upward diffusion. Arsenic is mainly absorbed onto iron and manganese oxyhydroxides in controlling the behavior of As. The effect factors of the transfer, cycle of arsenic are the redox condition at SWI, disturbance, and microbial action, etc.     

吉林省西部地方性氟、砷中毒现状及治理

吉林省西部是地方病高发地区,尤其是地方性氟、砷中毒的情况比较严重,尽管防氟改水工作已经进行40多年,但目前仍有相当多村屯的村民饮用高氟水,严重威胁人民的身体健康并影响当地的经济发展。针对现状作者分析了产生的原因并提出具体治理建议。     

Geochemical demobilization of metallic pollutants in solid waste—implications for arsenic in waterworks sludges

During stabilization or demobilization of contaminants in solid waste materials, different approaches can be taken, which also can be combined: (1) sufficient long-term buffer capacity can be provided, according to the environmental conditions; (2) permeability for dissolved contaminants can be reduced by secondary mineral precipitations or by soft gels injected into the pore space of the waste body; and (3) new formations of ‘reservoir minerals' can incorporate potential pollutants in their internal structure. Emphasizing the geochemical engineering approach, two examples are presented from the field of water management, both focussing on the demobilization of arsenic species. The first example (after Driehaus, W., 1994. Arsenentfernung mit Mangandioxid und Eisenhydroxid in der Trinkwasseraufbereitung. Vol. 133, Ser. 15, VDI-Reports, Düsseldorf, 117 pp.) relates to the problems during purification of arsenic-rich raw water, suggesting the potential application of iron and manganese oxide minerals as oxidizing agents and mineral lattice structures for the elimination of arsenic. In the second example, contaminated sludges from water treatment plants were investigated for their leaching characteristics and long-term stability. A pH-stat test procedure was used to assess the leaching characteristics of metals at typical pH values. Due to the presence of iron and manganese oxides pentavalent arsenic is protected against conversion into the mobile trivalent form at neutral to low pH. Experimental data suggest that co-disposal with reducing organic matter and alkaline stabilization material or wastes could negatively influence the binding properties and, therefore, should be avoided.     

Mobilization and attenuation of metals downstream from a base-metal mining site in the Mátra Mountains, northeastern Hungary

Regional geochemical baseline values have been established for Hungary by the use of low-density stream-sediment surveys of flood-plain deposits of large drainage basins and of the fine fraction of stream sediments. The baseline values and anomaly thresholds thus produced helped to evaluate the importance of high toxic element concentrations found in soils in a valley downstream of a polymetallic vein-type base-metal mine. Erosion of the mine dumps and flotation dump, losses of metals during filtering, storage and transportation, human neglects, and operational breakdowns, have all contributed to the contamination of a small catchment basin in a procession of releases of solid waste. The sulfide-rich waste material weathers to a yellow color; this layer of `yellow sand' blankets a narrow strip of the floodplain of Toka Creek in the valley near the town of Gyöngyösoroszi. Contamination was spread out in the valley by floods. Metals present in the yellow sand include Pb, As, Cd, Cu, Zn, and Sb. Exposure of the local population to these metals may occur through inhalation of airborne particulates or by ingestion of these metals that are taken up by crops grown in the valley. To evaluate the areal extent and depth of the contamination, active stream sediment, flood-plain deposits, lake or reservoir sediments, soils, and surface water were sampled along the erosion pathways downstream of the mine and dumps. The flood-plain profile was sampled in detail to see the vertical distribution of elements and to relate the metal concentrations to the sedimentation and contamination histories of the flood plain. Downward migration of mobile Zn and Cd from the contaminated upper layers under supergene conditions is observed, while vertical migration of Pb, As, Hg and Sb appears to be insignificant. Soil profiles of ¹³⁷Cs which originated from above-ground atomic bomb tests and the Chernobyl accident, provide good evidence that the upper 30–40 cm of the flood-plain sections, which includes the yellow sand contamination, were deposited in the last 30–40 years.     

氢化物—原子荧光法测定大洋沉积物中的砷

试验了常用酸及还原剂用量对测定Ａｓ的影响，选择了仪器的最佳工作条件，考察了大洋沉积物中主量及常见元素对测定的干扰情况，并给出了这些元素不干扰测定的允许存在量。方法用于测定海底沉积物标准样品，结果与标准值吻合，相对标准偏差（ｎ＝１２）小于５％。     

Comparaison d'extractions séquentielles et cinétiques pour la spéciation de As dans des sols sableux contaminés

We compared the results obtained by sequential extraction combined with physical fractionation to those obtained by kinetics for As speciation in slightly polluted soils through irrigation. The soil samples were sieved through a 50-μm mesh. Particulate organic matter was manually sorted and joined to the less than 50-μm fractions. This last fraction was sequentially extracted with phosphates, NaOH and hydroxylamine + acetic acid at 90 °C. Kinetic extractions by EDTA were also performed on whole samples. Results show that As originating from irrigation was rather mobile. The different compartments defined by the sequential extraction were in agreement with those defines by kinetics. To cite this article: S. Cornu et al., C. R. Geoscience 336 (2004).     

次火山热变质煤中Ge、Ga、As、S的分布特征

五牧场区是内蒙东部伊敏褐煤盆地中一个因次火山侵入作用形成的局部的烟煤区。在煤变质过程中,锗、硫从高变质煤中逸出,并在上部低变质煤中富集。锗、硫、砷与煤中有机质呈正相关,镓与煤中灰分呈正相关,随变质程度增加相关性下降。