Assessment of mercury mobility and bioavailability by fractionation method in sediments from coastal zone inundated by the 26 December 2004 tsunami in Thailand

The 26 December 2004 tsunami covered significant portion of a coastal zone with a blanket of potentially contaminated sediments. In this report are presented results on mercury concentrations in sediments deposited by the tsunami in a coastal zone of Thailand. Since the total mercury concentrations are insufficient to assess mercury mobility and bioavailability in sediment, its fractionation was applied. Sediments were sampled within 50 days after the event and analyzed by sequential extraction method. The procedure of sequential extraction involved five subsequent stages performed with solutions of chloroform, deionized water, 0.5 M HCl, 0.2 M NaOH, and aqua regia. The mean concentration of total mercury in sediments was 119 ± 50 ng g⁻¹ dry mass (range 66–230). The fractionation revealed that mercury is mainly bound to the least bioavailable sulphides 75 ± 6% (range 62–86), organomercury compounds 14 ± 7% (range 4–26), and humic matter 9 ± 7% (range 1–27). The lowest contributions bring fractions of water-soluble mercury 0.8 ± 1.0% (range 0.1–3.6) and acid soluble mercury 0.9 ± 0.5% (range 0.2–2.1). Although, the total mercury content is similar in a reference sample and in the tsunami sediments, the highly toxic organomercury fraction contribution is higher in the latter. The results were compared with chemical and sedimentological properties of the sediments but no significant correlations were obtained between them.     

Small inflation sources producing seismic and infrasonic pulses during the 2000 eruptions of Miyake-jima, Japan

During the 2000 activity of Miyake-jima volcano, Japan, we detected long period seismic signals with initial pulse widths of 1-2 s, accompanied by infrasonic pulses with almost the same pulse widths. The seismic signals were observed from 13 July 2000, a day before the second summit eruption. The occurrences of the seismic signals were intermittent with a gradual increase in their magnitudes and numbers building toward a significant explosive eruption on 18 August. After the eruption, the seismic and infrasonic events ceased. The results of a waveform inversion show that the initial motions were excited by an isotropic inflation source beneath the south edge of the caldera at a depth of 1.4 km. On the other hand, the sources of the infrasonic pulses were located in the summit caldera area. The times at which the infrasonic pulses were emitted at the surface were delayed by about 3 s from the origin times of the seismic events. It is suggested that small isotropic inflations excited seismic waves in the crust and simultaneously caused acoustic waves that traveled in the conduit and produced infrasonic pulses at the crater bottom. Considering the observed time differences and gas temperatures emitted from the vent, the conduit should have been filled with vapor mixed with SO₂ gas and volcanic ash. The change of the time differences between the seismic and infrasonic signals suggests that the seismic source became shallower within half a day before the August 18 explosive eruption. We interpret the source process as a fragmentation process of magma in which gas bubbles burst and quickly released part of the pressure that had been sustained by the tensional strength of magma.     

Rapid ground deformation corresponding to a mining-induced seismic event followed by a massive collapse

Natural Hazards - On 17 April 2015, the Wujek/?l?sk underground coal mine in Poland was struck by a strong induced tremor of magnitude M4.0. The event was followed by a massive rock burst...     

Root‐related rhodochrosite and concretionary siderite formation in oxygen‐deficient conditions induced by a ground‐water table rise

Sedimentological, mineralogical, stable carbon and oxygen isotope determinations and biomarker analyses were performed on siderite concretions occurring in terrestrial silts to understand their formation and to characterize the sedimentary and diagenetic conditions favouring their growth. High δ¹³C values (6·4‰ on average) indicate that siderite precipitated in an anoxic environment where bacterial methanogenesis operated. The development of anoxic conditions during shallow burial was induced by a change in sedimentary environment from flood plain to swamp, related to a rise of the ground‐water table. Large amounts of decaying plant debris led to efficient oxygen consumption within the pore‐water in the peat. Oxygen depletion, in combination with a decrease in sedimentation rate, promoted anoxic diagenetic conditions under the swamp and favoured abundant siderite precipitation. This shows how a change in sedimentary conditions can have a profound impact on the early‐diagenetic environment and carbonate authigenesis. The concretions contain numerous rhizoliths; they are cemented with calcium‐rhodochrosite, a feature which has not been reported before. The rhodochrosite cement has negative δ¹³C values (?16·5‰ on average) and precipitated in suboxic conditions due to microbial degradation of roots coupled to manganese reduction. The exceptional preservation of the epidermis/exodermis and xylem vessels of former root tissues indicates that the rhodochrosite formed shortly after the death of a root in water‐logged sediments. Rhodochrosite precipitated during the initial stages of concretionary growth in suboxic microenvironments within roots, while siderite cementation occurred simultaneously around them in anoxic conditions. These suboxic microenvironments developed because oxygen was transported from the overlying oxygenated soil into sediments saturated with anoxic water via roots acting as permeable conduits. This model explains how separate generations of carbonate cements having different mineralogy and isotopic compositions, which would conventionally be regarded as cements precipitated sequentially in different diagenetic zones during gradual burial, can form simultaneously in shallow burial settings where strong redox gradients exist around vertically oriented permeable root structures.     

Sexual reproduction and early life‐history traits of the Mediterranean soft coral Alcyonium acaule

Understanding processes that contribute to a better comprehension of the population dynamics of long‐lived species is critical for the maintenance and potential recovery of such species. Despite the abundance of soft corals in Mediterranean rocky reefs, little information exists on their life histories and reproductive patterns. In this study, we assessed the main reproductive characteristics and early life‐history traits of the long‐lived soft coral Alcyonium acaule. The sex ratio was 1:1; the smallest fertile colonies were one finger in size (2.1 ± 0.6 cm in height), and both colony and polyp fertility increased with colony size. Likewise, the number of eggs and spermary sacs per polyp increased significantly with colony size, whereas the diameter of the female and male sexual products did not. Over 6 years of observations (2007–2012), spawning occurred primarily in July, after the seawater reached 20 °C, in a single spawning episode per year. Approximately 80% of female colonies released eggs, which were retained on the surface of the mother colony by mucous strings for up to a few days. High fertilization rates were observed during spawning in 2008 and 2009 (94.9% and 87.0%, respectively). The timing of development was ~24 h for the blastulae, ~48–72 h for the planulae and 8–22 days for metamorphosis into primary polyps. Survivorship of planulae was relatively high (~50% at 45 days after release), but only 24% of larvae metamorphosed into primary polyps, and their survivorship was moderate after 2 months (65% in 2008 and 74% in 2009). Asexual reproduction was negligible, indicating that sexual reproduction is the main mechanism supporting the maintenance and recovery of populations.     

Socioenvironmental issues of river bed material extraction in the Himalayan piedmont (India)

The present study focuses on the Balason river running through the Himalayan piedmont zone (near Siliguri, India). The objective of the study is an assessment of the environmental effects of river bed material extraction by humans and the dependence of indigenous people on the river and its ecosystem services. The analysis is based on results of field work consisting of geodetic measurements of the river channel and interviews among the local community from the Nimtijot village. Historical hydrological data were also used for the study. The results of the investigation show that the Balason river is heavily affected by excessive exploitation of river bed material during dry season and the replenishment of extracted material in a monsoon season is not always sufficient. It leads to channel deepening. The local community working in the river heavily depends for its livelihood on continuing this activity. A decreasing amount of bed material to be extracted may lead to degradation of the strong relationship between the local community and their natural environment (river).     

Indonesian rainfall variability during Western North Pacific and Australian monsoon phase related to convectively coupled equatorial waves

The Indonesian archipelago which has over 15,000 islands, lies in the tropics between Asia and Australia. This eventually alters the rainfall variability over the region, which was influenced by the Asian-Australian monsoon and controlled by intraseasonal variabilities such as convectively coupled equatorial waves (CCEW), i.e., Kelvin, n?=?1 equatorial Rossby (ER), mixed Rossby gravity (MRG), and n?=?1 Westward inertio gravity (WIG), including the Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO). This study examines a 15-year 3B42 data for trapping CCEW and MJO in the region of Indonesia during both active and extreme Western North Pacific (WNP) and Australian (AU) monsoon phases, which are then compared with 30-year rainfall anomalies among 38 synoptic stations over Indonesia. The space–time spectral analysis is employed to filter each wave including the MJO in the equator, then proceeding with the empirical orthogonal function (EOF) method to seek each wave peak which then coincides with WNP and AU monsoon peaks over Indonesia. It is concluded that an extreme monsoon classification has proven to control rainfall activity related to the CCEW and MJO at 60.66% during December through February (DJF)-WNP for only the significant wave perturbation value. Meanwhile, the CCEW and MJO significantly increase/decrease precipitation at Day 0 for about 37.88% from the total of Day 1st to Day end. Although the contribution of the CCEW and MJO does not profoundly influence rainfall activity during monsoon phase over Indonesia, they still modulate weather condition for more than 50%. On the other hand, a complex topography with a number of land–sea complexities is capable of influencing the rainfall variability in the region as a negative relationship is associated with the CCEW and MJO either during DJF-WNP or July through August (JAS)-AU monsoon phase.     

The use of cartographic control points in the harmonization and revision of MRDBs

The main purpose of the research is to achieve fully automated approach for supplying multi-resolution databases with linear objects in each scale. Moreover, the proposed solutions maintain the repeatability and accuracy of output data wherever possible according to the input scale. These properties are achieved by keeping the minimal object dimensions as well as the appropriate data pre-processing, based on the classification of source points. The classification distinguishes three classes of points: constant (unchangeable), temporary, and inherited. These classes build a structure of cartographic control points. Based on these solutions, the authors proposed an algorithm for linear object simplification based on minimal object dimensions and cartographic control points. It was also confirmed that the simplification between constant points does not cause geometry discrepancies in relation to the global simplification of the whole line.