Arsenic incorporation in a salt marsh ecosystem

Replicate portions of a Delaware salt marsh were enclosed in cylindrical microcosms and exposed to elevated levels of inorganic arsenic (arsenate). All biotic and abiotic components in dosed cylinders rapidly incorporated arsenic. Spartina blades showed the greatest arsenic enrichment, with dosed plants incorporating arsenic concentrations an order of magnitude higher than controls. Spartina detritus and sediments also exhibited greatly elevated arsenic concentrations. Virtually all of the arsenic was incorporated into plant tissue or strongly sorbed to cell surfaces. Thus, elevated arsenic concentrations in estuarine waters will be reflected in living and non-living components of a salt marsh ecosystem, implying that increased arsenic will be available to organisms within the marsh ecosystem.     

Application of stress release models to historical earthquakes from North China

Univariate and multivariate stress release models are fitted to historical earthquake data from North China. It is shown that a better fit is obtained by treating separately the Eastern part of the region, including the North China Plain and Bohai Sea, and the Western part of the region, including the Ordos Plateau and its Eastern boundary. Further improvement is obtained by fitting the large events (M7.6) and smaller events in the Western region by different stress release models. The comparisons are made by computing the likelihoods of the fitted models and discounting the number of parameters used by Akaike's AIC criterion. The models are used to develop long-term risk scenarios for the East and West regions.     

Numerical modeling for analyzing thermal surface anomalies induced by underground coal fires

Coal seams burning underneath the surface are recognized all over the world and have drawn increasing public attention in the past years. Frequently, such fires are analyzed by detecting anomalies like increased exhaust gas concentrations and soil temperatures at the surface. A proper analysis presumes the understanding of involved processes, which determine the spatial distribution and dynamic behavior of the anomalies.In this paper, we explain the relevance of mechanical and energy transport processes with respect to the occurrence of temperature anomalies at the surface. Two approaches are presented, aiming to obtain insight into the underground coal fire situation: In-situ temperature mapping and numerical simulation. In 2000 to 2005, annual temperature mapping in the Wuda (Inner Mongolia, PR China) coal fire area showed that most thermal anomalies on the surface are closely related to fractures, where hot exhaust gases from the coal fire are released. Those fractures develop due to rock mechanical failure after volume reduction in the seams. The measured signals at the surface are therefore strongly affected by mechanical processes.More insight into causes and effects of involved energy transport processes is obtained by numerical simulation of the dynamic behavior of coal fires. Simulations show the inter-relation between release and transport of thermal energy in and around underground coal fires. Our simulation results show a time delay between the coal fire propagation and the observed appearance of the surface temperature signal. Additionally, the overall energy flux away from the burning coal seam into the surrounding bedrock is about 30-times higher than the flux through the surface. This is of particular importance for an estimation of the energy released based on surface temperature measurements. Finally, the simulation results also prove that a fire propagation rate estimated from the interpretation of surface anomalies can differ from the actual rate in the seam.     

Microbial release of potassium from K-bearing minerals by thermophilic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus

A strain of thermophilic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus was cultured with K-bearing minerals to determine if microbe-mineral interactions enhance the release of mineralic potassium. Experiments were carried out in two settings, one with the mineral grains and the fungal cells in direct contact, and the other employing a membrane (pore size 0.22 μm) to separate the two. Measurements over a period of 30 days showed that, irrespective of the experimental setup, the concentration of free K in the culture was drastically higher than those in any of the control experiments where no living organism was present. Moreover, the occurrence of mineral-cell physical contact enhanced potassium release by an additional factor of 3 to 4 in comparison to the separation experiments. For contact experiments, Electron Probe Microanalysis revealed the formation of mycelium-mineral aggregates, and Atomic Force Microscopy imaging further indicated the possible ingestion of mineral particles by the fungus cells. Contrasting to what was observed and expected in control experiments, the potassium solubilization rate showed a positive dependence upon pH when fungi and minerals were mixed directly, and exhibited no correlations with solution acidity if cell-rock contact was restrained. These results appear to suggest that A. fumigatus promoted potassium release by means of at least three likely routes, one through the complexation of soluble organic ligands, another appealing to the immobile biopolymers such as the insoluble components of secretion, and the third related to the mechanical forces in association with the direct physical contact between cells and mineral particles.     

0010号台风"碧利斯"对厦门港湾表层海水中溶解无机砷含量的影响

本文研究了0010号台风“碧利斯”影响期间及其随后的恢复期中,厦门港湾中九龙江口和西港海域站表层海水总溶解砷（TDIAs)、As^3 含量和As^3 /As^5 值的变化特征。结果表明,观测期间两站TDIAs和As^5 含量均比非台风时期呈数倍增加,经10d后仍未恢复到非台风时的水平。As^3 含量也有较大幅度的增加,但波动较大。文中还对观测期间影响溶解无机砷含量的因素进行了初步的探讨。     

基于ArcIMS的城市小区信息发布系统的设计与实现

利用ESRI公司新一代Web GIS产品Arc IMS9.0,结合ASP及IIS6.0、SQL Serve、ArcSDE等网络、空间数据库方面技术,建立了城市小区信息发布系统。总结了ArcIMS的特点和体系结构,提出了基于ArcIMS的城市小区信息发布系统的设计思路和方案,阐述了系统的具体实现方法。     

三峡库区消落区土壤磷释放的环境影响因子

以三峡库区消落区万州段为试验基地,选取释磷能力较强的紫色冲积土,根据三峡水库消落带的"干湿交替"空间和时间特征,进行万州断面土壤磷释放的影响因子的实验室模拟试验和万州江面淹没的对照试验。研究发现,随着淹水时间的变化,各种形态的磷在前5~10d各形态磷变化有相当的差异,随后变化趋势趋于稳定。TP有降低的趋势,土壤磷有一定的释放。野外研究表明Olsen-P在淹水10周左右到达最大值,以后缓慢降低。淹水时土壤Olsen-P增加,干燥后降低。多次淹水时每次淹水后土壤的有效磷水平都略有增加,落干后相较上次落干后有效磷水平降低,最后一次淹水后相较与初始时Olsen-P水平低16.7%。随着淹水深度增加,土壤的Olsen-P水平在淹水时由淹水前20.53mg/kg提高到43.23mg/kg,增加110.6%。当上覆水磷浓度较低时(<2mg/L),磷吸附到达平衡的时间较短,约需要6周。当上覆水磷浓度较高(>2mg/L)时,磷吸附到达平衡的时间较长。微生物活动对淹水土壤的磷释放有一定影响,有微生物时磷的释放高于无微生物者0.048mg/L。种植植物的土壤在淹水后Olsen-P含量大于土壤直接淹没时的释放量,种植狗牙根(Cynodondactylon)和野地瓜藤(Ficustikoua)的土壤中Olsen-P分别较未种植物土壤释放量高出21.5%和12.7%。     

Speciation of adsorbed arsenate on the surface of hydrous iron oxide

Adsorption of arsenate on hydrous iron oxide is an important process controlling geochemical cycling of arsenic in environment as well as the fate of arsenic-bearing mining wastes. The widely accepted view on the mechanism of adsorption is that arsenate is adsorbed via bidentate binuclear inner-sphere complexation. In this study, we characterized the arsenate-hydrous iron oxide sorption solids synthesized at pH=3-8 using Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy （FTIR） and X-ray diffraction （XRD）. It has been determined that poorly crystalline ferric arsenate developed on the surface of iron oxide when arsenate was sorbed at acidic pH, while at alkaline pH the adsorption of arsenate was via bidentate complexation.