Associations and mobility of uranium in soils near a depleted uranium （DU） weapons testing site, SW Scotland     

Margaret C. Graham John G. Farmer Ian W. Oliver Angus B. MacKenzie Robert M. Ellam 《中国地球化学学报》2006,25(B08):112-112

Natural uranium has three isotopes, ^238U, ^235U and ^234U, with natural abundances of 99.27 atom %, 0.72% and 0.0055%, respectively. Only ^235U is fissile and the production of nuclear fuel and nuclear weapons involves enrichment of uranium in ^235U. This process also results in separation of ^234U from ^238U, leaving depleted uranium （DU）, with typical ^234U/^238U and ^235U/^238U activity ratios of about 0.19 and 0.013, respectively, as a waste product. The high density, high melting and boiling points and chemical stability of uranium and the availability of DU in relatively pure form mean that DU has many uses, including armour-piercing munitions. Such munitions have been developed in the UK since the 1960s and testing has been carried out by the Ministry of Defence （MoD） at firing ranges such as Dundrennan, SW Scotland and Eskmeals, NW England. The firing of DU munitions can result in the dispersion of DU and its combustion products （oxides） as aerosols or as larger fragments, with the potential for human exposure either directly at the site of detonation or via post-depositional migration in the environment. The aim of this work was to investigate the potential environmental mobility of DU by characterizing the associations of U in soil porewaters with increasing distance from a firing site. To this end, several soil cores located down-wind of the firing site at Dundrennan, near Kirkcudbright, SW Scotland, were collected in May 2006. These were sectioned on-site into 1- or 2-cm depth intervals and porewaters were isolated by centfifugation （10 minutes; 8873 g） on return to the laboratory. Following filtration through 0.2-micron cellulose nitrate filters, the porewaters were analyzed by ICP-QMS （U concentration） and ICP-OES （Fe, Al, Ca, Mg, Mn concentrations）. Sub-samples were also subjected to centrifugal ultrafiltration （100, 30, and 3 kD） and to gel electrophoretic fractionation （agarose; 0.045 M Tris-borate; 20 mA, 30 minutes）. Results showed that U was present at up to 4 μg/L in the soil porewater and that the associations of U varied with sample location and soil depth.  相似文献   

Distribution and mode of occurrences of radionuclides in phosphogypsum from the Aqaba and Eshidiya fertilizer plants, Jordan     

Mohammad S. Al-Hwaiti Robert A. Zielinski James R. Budahn James F. Ranville Philippe E. Ross 《中国地球化学学报》2006,25(B08):178-178

Phosphogypsum is a waste by-product of the phosphate fertilizer industry that has relatively high concentrations of some U decay-series radionuclides such as ^226Ra and ^210Pb. The distribution and environmental mobility of radionuclides in phosphogypsum are an important concern because this gypsum by-product is used for wallboard, in agriculture and as a soil amendment. This study determined the distribution of ^226Ra, ^210Pb, within phosphogypsum stacks of varying age and among three size fractions （coarse： 〈0.212 mm; medium： 0.212-0.053 mm; fine： 〈0.053 mm）, in phosphogypsum derived from Aqaba and Eshidiya fertilizer plants. The results indicated that ^226Ra and ^210Pb were generally uniformly distributed in phosphogypsum stacks and showed no significant difference in the concentration of these elements with the age of stack. In the Aqaba phosphogypsum ^226Ra was slightly 10% enriched in the coarse fraction, while ^210Pb was 10% enriched in the free size fraction. In the Eshidiya phosphogypsum ^226Ra and ^210Pb contents were both relatively enriched （10%） in the fine size fraction.  相似文献   

DDT residue in soil and water in and around the abounded area of DDT manufacturing factory     

Mohammad Rasul Jan Mahmood A Khawaja Jasmin Sha Kashif Gul 《中国地球化学学报》2006,25(B08):182-182

Due to the persistent nature of DDT, a persistent organic pollutant and its adverse environmental and health impacts, the present study was undertaken to examine the residual DDT in and around DDT manufacturing factory in Amman Gharh, Nowshera, NWFP. The factory was established in 1963 and remained in operation till 1994. Composite samples of soil, sediments and water were collected in and around the factory area, nearby DDT stores, main factory drain leading to river and nearby villages. Standard procedures were used for the collection, transportation and storage of samples for analysis. Physical parameters for the collected water samples measured were temperature, pH and conductance. Extraction of each sample for DDT analyses was carried out in triplicates using soxhlet extraction apparatus. The extract was transferred to well washed, clean; dry glass vial, sealed and put in the refrigerator. Gas Chromatograph with electron capture detector and capillary column was used for analysis. DDT in the samples was identified on the basis of their retention time and quantified on the basis of peak areas. It is evident from the analytical data obtained in the present study that both water and soil in and around the factory area are still contaminated with DDT, despite the closure of the factory since the past few years.  相似文献   

Improved reliability in the interpretation of geochemical measurements by the quantification of uncertainty from sampling     

Michael H. Ramsey Paul D. Taylor Katy A. Boon 《中国地球化学学报》2006,25(B08):209-210

All geochemical measurements require the taking of field samples, but the uncertainty that this process causes is often ignored when assessing the reliability of the interpretation, of the geochemistry or the health implications. Recently devised methods for the estimation, optimisation and reduction of this uncertainty have been evaluated by their application to the investigation of contaminated land. Uncertainty of measurement caused by primary sampling has been estimated for a range of six different contaminated land site investigations, using an increasingly recognized procedure. These site investigations were selected to reflect a wide range of different sizes, contaminants （organic and metals）, previous land uses （e.g. tin mining, railway sidings and gas works）, intended future use （housing to nature reserves） and routinely applied sampling methods. The results showed that the uncertainty on measurements was substantial, ranging from 25% to 186% of the concentration values at the different sites. Sampling was identified as the dominant source of the uncertainty （〉70% of measurement uncertainty） in most cases. The fitness-for-purpose of the measurements was judged using the optimized contaminated land investigation （OCLI） method. This identifies the optimal level of uncertainty that reduces to overall financial loss caused by the measurement procedures and the misclassification of the contamination, caused by the uncertainty. Generally the uncertainty of the actual measurements made in these different site investigations was found to be sub-optimal, and too large by a factor of approximately two. The uncertainty is usually limited by the sampling, but this can be reduced by increasing the sample mass by a factor of 4 （predicted by sampling theory）. It is concluded that knowing the value of the uncertainty enables the interpretation to be made more reliable, and that sampling is the main factor limiting most investigations. This new approach quantifies this problem for the first time, and allows sampling procedures to be critically evaluated, and modified, to improve the reliability of the geochemical assessment.  相似文献   

Characterization of microbial communities associated with African desert dust and their implications for human and ecosystem health     

Christina A. Kellogg 《中国地球化学学报》2006,25(B08):218-219

Desert winds aerosolize several billion tons of soil-derived dust each year, including concentrated seasonal pulses from Africa and Asia. Huge dust events create an atmospheric bridge over continents and oceans, and eject a large pulse of soil-associated microorganisms into the atmosphere. These dust events might therefore have a role in expanding the biogeographical range of some microorganisms by facilitating rare long-distance dispersal events. The goal of this study is to characterize the microbes associated with African dust events and determine if they pose a risk to humans or downwind ecosystems. Air samples were collected by vacuum filtration in a source region （Mali, West Africa） during dust events and plated on R2A media to culture microorganisms. These organisms were compared to those in similar samples collected in the Caribbean during Saharan/Sahelian dust events. A high-volume liquid impinger is currently being tested in Barbados, collecting aerosol samples during African dust events. Over 100 bacteria and fungi （19 genera of bacteria and three genera of fungi） have been characterized from source region dust events.  相似文献   

Factors controlling the spatial and temporal variability of dust emissions     

John A. Gillies William G. Nickling Vicken Etyemezian James King Mark Sweeney 《中国地球化学学报》2006,25(B08):219-220

New field measurement techniques are allowing researchers to better understand how surficial properties affect the temporal and spatial variability of dust emissions. In this paper we review the current understanding of the dust emission process and present new field measurements that examine how three surface properties： roughness, crust strength, and temporal changes of surface properties affect dust emissions. These data were collected using three unique measurement systems developed by our team. Roughness exerts considerable control on the entrainment threshold and emissions of dust from a surface. We have carried out a series of experiments designed to quantify roughness effects on aeolian sediment entrainment and transport in a shear stress partitioning framework. Our results show that the model of Raupach et al. （1993） provides very good agreement with available data to predict the amount of shearing stress on the intervening surface among roughness elements, relatively independent of their size and distribution. However, element size affects the aeolian sediment transport process beyond that attributable only to the reduction of surface shear stress caused by the roughness. Additional interactions of the elements with the saltation cloud appear to reduce the transport efficiency and potentially dust emissions as well. The effect of crust strength on dust emissions was assessed using a newly-developed pin penetrometer, which can measure crust strength in-situ. Previous researchers suggested that variation in crust strength even within a small area could lead to considerable spatial variability in dust emissions. Our measurements showed that crust strength is highly variable over a scale of centimeters. This variability may help to explain some of the observed scatter in field measurements of dust emissions for what appear to be homogeneous surfaces. Variability of dust emissions in time and space was also evaluated using a new instrument, the Portable In-Situ Wind Erosion Lab （PI-SWERL） developed to measure dust emissions from soil surfaces.  相似文献   

Hydrogeochemical controls on surface and groundwater chemistry in naturally acidic, porphyry-related mineralized areas, southern Rocky Mountains     

Philip L. Verplanck D. Kirk Nordstrom Geoff S. Plumlee Richard B. Wanty Dana J. Bove Jonathan S. Caine 《中国地球化学学报》2006,25(B08):231-231

In southern Rocky Mountains, catchments characterized by acidic, metalliferous waters that are relatively unaffected by human activity usually occur within areas that have active or historical mining activity. The US Geological Survey has utilized these mineralized but unmined catchments to constrain geochemical processes that control the surface- and ground-water chemistry associated with near surface acid weathering as well as to estimate premining conditions. Study areas include the upper Animas River watershed, Lake City, Mt. Emmons, and Montezuma in Colorado and Questa in New Mexico. Although host-rock lithologies range from Precambrian gneisses to Cretaceous sedimentary units to Tertiary volcanic complexes, mineralization is Tertiary in age and associated with intermediate to felsic composition, porphyritic plutons. Pyrite is ubiquitous. Variability of metal concentrations in water is caused by two main factors： mineralogy and hydrology. Parameters that potentially affect water chemistry include： host-rock lithology, intensity of hydrothermal alteration, sulfide mineralogy and chemistry, gangue mineralogy, length of flow path, precipitation, evaporation, and redox conditions. Springs and headwater streams have pH values as low as 2.5, sulfate up to 3700 mg/L and high dissolved metal concentrations （for example： Al up to 170 mg/L; Fe up to 250 mg/L; Cu up to 3.5 mg/L and Zn up to 14 mg/L）. With the exception of evaporative waters, the lowest pH values and highest Fe and Al concentrations occur in water draining the most intense hydrothermally altered areas consisting of the mineral assemblage quartz-sericite-pyrite. Stream beds tend to be coated with iron floc, and some reaches are underlain by ferricrete. When iron-rich ground water interacts with oxygenated waters in the stream or hyporheic zone, ferrous iron is oxidized to ferric iron, which is less soluble, leading to the precipitation of iron oxyhydroxides.  相似文献   

Naturally acidic and metalliferous waters at unmined volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits in the Bonnifield mining district, Alaska Range, east-central Alaska     

Robert G. Eppinger Paul H. Briggs Cynthia Dusel-Bacon Stuart A. Giles Larry P. Gough Jane M.Hammarstrom Bernard E. Hubbard 《中国地球化学学报》2006,25(B08):232-232

The Bonnifield district hosts 26 tmmined volcanogenic massive sulfide （VMS） occurrences. Environmental geochemical samples of water and stream sediment were collected at several occurrences, concentrating on the two best-exposed and largest deposits, Red Mountain （RM） and Sheep Creek （SC）. Limited samples were also collected at the poorly exposed WTF deposit. The deposits are Late Devonian to Early Mississippian, and are hosted by felsic metavolcanic and carbonaceous schist members of the Totatlanika Schist or Keevy Peak Fm. Spring and stream waters at RM and SC have pH values commonly 〈3.5 （as low as 2.4 at RM and 2.5 at SC）, high conductivity （up to 11000 μS/cm）, and very high （Is to 100s mg/L） dissolved contents of Al, Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Ni, and Pb. Waters at RM are characterized by extremely high REE contents （summed REE median 3200 μg/L, n=33）. At both RM and SC, pyrite oxidation and dissolution produce low pH waters that interact with and dissolve bedrock minerals, resulting in acidic, metal-laden, naturally degraded streams that are mostly devoid of aquatic life. Ferricrete is common. In contrast, WTF barely produces a surficial environmental footprint, mostly due to topography and relief. RM and SC are well exposed in the areas of relatively high relief, and both exhibit extensive areas of quartz-sericite-pyrite-alteration. While WTF shares many of the same deposit-and alteration characteristics, it is concealed by tundra in a large, nearly flat area. Surface water at WTF is absent and outcrops are sparse. Even though WTF is roughly the same size as Red Mountain （both around 3 million tonnes） and has similar base- and precious-metal grades, the surficial geochemical manifestation of WTF is minimal. However, exposure through mining of the altered, mineralized rock at WTF potentially could initiate the same processes of pyrite oxidation, acid generation, and mineral dissolution that are observed naturally at RM and SC.  相似文献   

Petrogenesis and geotectonic setting of the PanAfrican basement rocks in Bamenda Massif, Obudu Plateau, southeastern Nigeria： Evidence from trace element geochemistry     

UKAEGBU V. U. EKWUEME B. N. 《中国地球化学学报》2006,25(2):122-131

1 IntroductionThe study area is part of the Obudu Plateau,which forms part of the Precambrian Pan-African tec-tonothermal belt, lying between the West African Cra-ton and the Gabon-Congo Craton ( Fig. 1). It isbounded by the Benue Trough, in the NE-SW axi…  相似文献   

探地雷达(GPR)在海南岛东北部海岸带调查中的应用 ^*   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

殷勇  朱大奎  I.P.Martini 《第四纪研究》2006,26(3):462-469

对海南岛东北部海岸带调查采用了探地雷达(GPR)研究海岸带沙体的结构、展布和沉积序列,取得了很好的效果。文章通过和有限的露头资料对比以及对反射波形态、结构的研究,确定了海滩脊、海岸沙丘的反射特征以及潜水面的位置。雷达图像显示五龙港古海滩脊由亚水平、不连续、高振幅和透镜状反射波组成;木兰头海岸沙丘已受到人类活动的扰动,短的、陡倾斜反射可能代表未受扰动的海岸风成沙的前积层。研究表明探地雷达是一种可靠、快速和经济的地球物理方法,在砂砾质海岸可产生高质量、高分辨率和连续的反射剖面,值得加以推广。  相似文献