Trace metals in fish and invertebrates of three California coastal Wetlands

Metal concentrations were measured in selected fish and invertebrate species from Mugu Lagoon, Malibu Lagoon and Ballona Wetlands in southern California in order to assess the extent of metal contamination in these three wetlands. Ranges of element concentrations (in microgram/g) found in biota were: Zn 12-650; Cu 1.9-440; Ni < 1-37; Cr < 1-55; Pb < 0.5-6.8; As < 1-8.5; Se < 1-3.8; Cd < 0.2-0.90; and Ag < 0.3-5.9. Relative to previous studies of California biota, the highest metal concentrations found were for chromium and nickel. The highest levels were in one of the two bottom-dwelling fish (juvenile Leptocottus armatus) (55 micrograms/g) and the two water-column fish sampled (Fundulus parvipinnis and Atherinops affinis) (30 and 24 micrograms/g). At Ballona Lagoon, elevated levels of copper and silver were found in the bivalve Tagelus californianus (440 and 5.9 micrograms/g). Chromium and nickel appeared to be most persistent in fish from Mugu (4.6-55 and 2.6-37 micrograms/g), the most northern site and an active military base, and Ballona (< 1-30 and < 1-16 micrograms/g), believed to be the most metal-contaminated site. Compared to previously measured metal concentrations in species of California coastal waters, these regions revealed higher levels of chromium, nickel, silver, arsenic, zinc, copper and, to a lesser extent, cadmium and selenium. Chromium and silver were present at high enough levels at all three sites to be considered environmental health hazards.     

Hydrocarbon degraders from tropical marine environments

Analysis of 20 samples of marine mud and water around Mumbai resulted in the isolation of 17 bacteria and yeasts all of which were able to degrade more than 10% of the supplied crude oil. The yeasts strains were important degraders of the aliphatic fraction of crude. All the isolated yeasts belonged to the genus Candida. Using biochemical tests these were identified as Candida parapsilosis, C. albicans, C. guilliermondii, Yarrowia lipolytica, C. tropicalis and C. intermedia. Y. lipolytica was the best degrader utilizing 78% of the aliphatic fraction of Bombay High crude oil. None of these isolates degraded the aromatic or ashphaltene fractions. All the isolates required aeration, nitrogen and phosphate supplementation for optimal degradation. Four out of the six yeasts are human pathogens.     

2,4,6-trinitrotoluene transformation by a tropical marine yeast, Yarrowia lipolytica NCIM 3589

Yarrowia lipolytica NCIM 3589, a tropical marine degrader of hydrocarbons and triglycerides transformed 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) very efficiently. Though this yeast could not utilize TNT as the sole carbon or nitrogen source, it was capable of reducing the nitro groups in TNT to aminodinitrotoluene (ADNT). In a complete medium containing glucose and ammonium sulphate as the available carbon and nitrogen sources respectively, the culture was able to completely transform 1 mM (227 ppm) of TNT under such conditions. A dual pathway was found to be functional, one of which resulted in the formation of the hydride-Meisenheimer complex (H(-)TNT) as a transiently accumulating metabolite that was subsequently denitrated to 2,4-dinitrotoluene (2,4-DNT), whereas the other pathway resulted in the formation of amino derivatives. The presence of increasing amounts of reducing equivalents in the form of glucose promoted better growth and the nitroreductases of this yeast to reduce the aromatic ring to 2,4-DNT although, the reduction of the nitro groups to amino groups was the major functional pathway. The ability of this tropical marine yeast to transform TNT into products such as 2,4-DNT which in turn could be metabolized by other microbes has implications in the use of this yeast for bioremediation of TNT polluted marine environments.     

柴达木盆地东部地震地面运动放大效应

柴达木盆地是青藏高原东北部大型断陷山间盆地,该地区的流动观测记录了2008年11月10日发生于大柴旦附近的M_W6.3地震。和附近的基岩上的记录相比,盆地内部的记录显示出非常显著的地面运动放大效应,表现为峰值速度的增大、持续时间的延长,其呈现出长持续时间的后续震相。傅里叶频谱分析表明盆地内部显著的后续震相的频率和直达波相比较低,地面质点运动轨迹图显示后续震相为面波运动特征。为了解释地面运动的差异,构建二维模型,通过交错网格高阶有限差分方法计算了地震波在盆地内部的传播过程,结果显示盆地内部低速层的存在造成直达波的放大以及多次反射与转换,盆地边缘结构造成的波的相干叠加产生了强烈的次生面波,其低频、大振幅、长持续时间的特征是盆地内部地面运动放大的主要原因。     

基于图形处理器的伪谱和高阶有限 差分混合方法地震波数值模拟

伪谱和高阶有限差分混合方法, 在垂直方向采用交错网格有限差分算子, 利用其并行程度高的特点, 在水平方向采用伪谱算子, 保留其高精度的优势, 是计算地震波场的有效方法. 图形处理器(graphic processing unit, 简写为GPU) 由于其高度并行性, 在计算此类问题中有显著的优势. 由英伟达(NVIDIA)公司推出的统一计算设备架构(compute unified device architecture, 简写为CUDA)平台极大地简化了GPU编程的难度. 为提高计算效率, 本文实现了基于CUDA 平台的混合方法二维地震波场模拟. 然后基于二维均匀介质模型将CPU与GPU版本的运行时间进行对比. 实际测试结果表明, 基于CUDA 的并行模拟方法在保证计算精度的同时显著地提高了计算速度, 为开展大规模非均匀地球介质地震波传播数值模拟提供了一种可选的方法.      

Nanoporous polystyrene fibers for oil spill cleanup

The development of oil sorbents with high sorption capacity, low cost, scalable fabrication, and high selectivity is of great significance for water environmental protection, especially for oil spillage on seawater. In this work, we report nanoporous polystyrene (PS) fibers prepared via a one-step electrospinning process used as oil sorbents for oil spill cleanup. The oleophilic-hydrophobic PS oil sorbent with highly porous structures shows a motor oil sorption capacity of 113.87 g/g, approximately 3-4 times that of natural sorbents and nonwoven polypropylene fibrous mats. Additionally, the sorbents also exhibit a relatively high sorption capacity for edible oils, such as bean oil (111.80 g/g) and sunflower seed oil (96.89 g/g). The oil sorption mechanism of the PS sorbent and the sorption kinetics were investigated. Our nanoporous material has great potential for use in wastewater treatment, oil accident remediation and environmental protection.