Metal-enriched nanoparticles and black carbon: A perspective from the Brazil railway system air pollution     

Bianca D. Lima  Elba C. Teixeira  James C. Hower  Matheus S. Civeira  Omar Ramírez  Cheng-Xue Yang  Marcos L.S. Oliveira  Luis F.O. Silva 《地学前缘(英文版)》2021,12(3):101129

Having a better understanding of air pollutants in railway systems is crucial to ensure a clean public transport. This study measured, for the first time in Brazil, nanoparticles (NPs) and black carbon (BC) on two ground-level platforms and inside trains of the Metropolitan Area of Porto Alegre (MAPA). An intense sampling campaign during thirteen consecutive months was carried out and the chemical composition of NPs was examined by advanced microscopy techniques. The results showed that highest concentrations of the pollutants occur in colder seasons and influenced by variables such as frequency of the trains and passenger densities. Also, internal and external sources of pollution at the stations were identified. The predominance of NPs enriched with metals that increase oxidative stress like Cd, Fe, Pb, Cr, Zn, Ni, V, Hg, Sn, and Ba both on the platforms and inside trains, including Fe-minerals as hematite and magnetite, represents a critical risk to the health of passengers and employees of the system. This interdisciplinary and multi-analytical study aims to provide an improved understanding of reported adverse health effects induced by railway system aerosols.  相似文献   

Geography Deserts: State and Regional Variation in the Formal Opportunity to Learn Geography in the United States, 2005–2015     

Mark C. Jones  Marcos Luna 《The Journal of geography》2019,118(2):88-100

The formal opportunity to learn geography in the United States is unevenly distributed across space, creating possible geography deserts. Data on the number of exams taken in Advanced Placement Human Geography (APHG) and bachelor’s degrees earned in geography are mapped at the state and regional scales. Normalized rates are ranked and grouped into quintiles. For APHG exams, states in the southeastern region of the United States are in the uppermost quintiles while states in the northeastern region are in the lowermost quintiles. The pattern for bachelor’s degrees in geography is somewhat the spatial inverse of that for APHG.  相似文献   

The effect of human use of sandy beaches on developmental stability of Talitrus saltator (Montagu, 1808) (Crustacea, Amphipoda). A study on fluctuating asymmetry     

Sandra Barca-Bravo  María J. Servia  Fernando Cobo  & Marcos A. Gonzalez 《Marine Ecology》2008,29(S1):91-98

In recent years, there has been an increasing intensity of human use of coastal areas in Galicia (NW Spain). Actually, there is great concern about rapid and unplanned urban and industrial development on certain locations, as this can generate adverse impacts on those areas. In this study, we selected three sandy beaches along the Galician coast (Chanteiro, Insuela and Valieros) facing different levels of anthropic pressure, and we analysed Talitrus saltator individuals with the aim of elucidating whether anthropogenic pressures on beaches such as tourism or pollution have an influence on the incidence of morphological developmental alterations in sandhoppers in the field. Specifically, levels of fluctuating asymmetry were selected as indicators of environmental stress. Results of two sampling dates (May and September) show that individuals collected at the most touristy and polluted beach were those showing the highest asymmetry values, although results were only statistically significant for samples collected during spring. Results are in accordance with the hypothesis that beach management and pollution reduce symmetry in sandhoppers living in altered beaches.  相似文献   

Internal structure and kinematics of Variscan thrust sheets in the valley of the Trubia River (Cantabrian Zone, NW Spain): regional tectonic implications     

Mayte Bulnes  Alberto Marcos 《International Journal of Earth Sciences》2001,90(2):287-303

The Variscan Belt in western Europe shows an arcuate geometry that is usually named Ibero-Armorican Arc. The nucleus of this arc, known as the Asturian Arc, comprises the Cantabrian Zone which is a foreland fold and thrust belt. The Trubia River area is located in the inflexion zone of the Asturian Arc, which is a strategic structural position for unraveling the geometry and kinematics of the Variscan thrust sheets and related folds. Geological mapping, construction of stratigraphic and structural cross sections, analysis of kinematic indicators, and estimate of shortening for each cross section have been carried out. This area consists of two major antiform-synform pairs related to two imbricate thrust systems. These folds are asymmetric, tight, and their axial traces follow the trend of the Asturian Arc. They have been interpreted as fault-propagation folds. The emplacement directions measured in the Trubia River area change from north to south and converge towards the core of the Asturian Arc. The minimum shortening estimated ranges between 16.4 and 17.6 km, which corresponds to 56.9 and 59.4%. The complex cross-cutting relationships between folds and thrusts suggest that, in general, the different structural units followed a forward-breaking sequence of emplacement, with some breaching and a few out-of-sequence thrusts. The analysis of the transport vectors together with the disposition of the fold axes and post-thrusting faults that deform the thrust stack are evidence of a late deformation event that is partially or totally responsible for the arcuate form of the Asturian Arc. The timing of the Asturian Arc, amount of shortening, and sequence of emplacement of the structures are in accordance with previous regional studies of the Cantabrian Zone.  相似文献   

Towards medium-term (order of months) morphodynamic modelling of the Teign estuary, UK     

Marcos E. C. Bernardes  Mark A. Davidson  Keith R. Dyer  Ken J. George 《Ocean Dynamics》2006,56(3-4):186-197

The main objective of this paper is to address the principal mechanisms involved in the medium-term (order of months to years) morphodynamic evolution of estuaries through the application of a process-based numerical modelling. The Teign estuary (Teignmouth, UK) is the selected site. The system is forced by the macrotidal semi-diurnal tide in the English Channel and is perturbed to a minor extent by high river discharge events (freshets). Although waves have a definite influence on the adjacent coastal area, Wells (Teignmouth Quay Development Environmental Statement: Changes to Physical Processes. Report R.984c:140. ABP Marine Environmental Research Ltd., Southampton, 2002b) suggested that swell waves do not enter the estuary. Hence, wave effects are neglected in this study, as only tides and the river discharge are taken into account. The sediment grain size is highly variable, but mainly sandy. Within the frame of the COAST3D project (), four bathymetric surveys of the adjacent coastal area were carried out at a nearly weekly intervals. The outer estuary and the adjacent coastal area were also surveyed every 6 months as part of the COASTVIEW project (). Based on these data and on continuously measured parameters, such as water level, waves, wind and river discharge, numerical modelling of the morphodynamic processes can be tested. To replicate the morphological changes in the medium-term within a feasible simulation time, forcing conditions are reduced through the use of an input reduction method (called ensemble technique). In this study, simulations are based on the coupling between Telemac-2D and its non-cohesive sediment transport module, Sisyphe (version 5.3 for both modules). Three different sediment transport formulae were tested: (1) Engelund and Hansen (A monograph on sediment transport in alluvial streams, 3rd edn. Technological University of Denmark, Copenhagen, 1967) including the modifications proposed by Chollet and Cunge (J Hydraul Eng 17(1):1–13, 1979); (2) Bijker (Mechanics of sediment transport by the combination of waves and current. In: Design and reliability of coastal structures. 23rd international conference on Coastal Engineering, pp 147–173, 1968) and (3) Soulsby (Dynamics of Marine Sands. A manual for practical applications. HR Wallingford, Wallingford, p 142, 1997) modified version of van Rijn [J Hydraul Eng 110(10):1431–1456, 1984a, J Hydraul Eng 110(11):1613–1641, 1984b] formulation. Both a qualitative (i.e. visual comparison) and a quantitative tool [Brier Skill Score (BSS); described in Sutherland et al. in Coast Eng 51:917–939, 2004b] are applied to assess the similarity of simulations when compared to model predictions and observations. Tests confirmed the reliability and time efficiency of the ensemble technique, since it reproduced very well the results of a reference run, a computation based on the observed boundary conditions. For the spring-neap cycle modelled, the BSS was of 0.91 (a perfect modelling would have a BSS of 1), with a reduction in the simulation time on the order of 80%. For the 6-month-period simulation, results were also excellent: BSS=0.92 and a computer time reduction of 85%. In principle, this method has the advantage of being applied to any process-based numerical model.  相似文献   

On the Dynamics of Dust Grains in a Hierarchical Environment     

Marcos  C. De La Fuente  Marcos  R. De La Fuente 《Earth, Moon, and Planets》1998,81(2):145-173

Most main sequence stars are binaries or higher multiplicity Systems and it appears that at birth most stars have circumstellar disks. It is commonly accepted that planetary systems arise from the material of these disks; consequently, binary and multiple systems may have a main role in planet formation. In this paper, we study the stage of planetary formation during which the particulate material is still dispersed as centimetre-to-metre sized primordial aggregates. We investigate the response of the particles, in a protoplanetary disk with radius R_D = 100 AU around a solar-like star, to the gravitational field of bound perturbing companions in a moderately wide (300–1600 AU) orbit. For this purpose, we have carried out a series of simulations of coplanar hierarchical configurations using a direct integration code that models gravitational and viscous forces. The massive protoplanetary disk is around one of the components of the binary. The evolution in time of the dust sub-disk depends mainly on the nature (prograde or retrograde) of the relative revolution of the stellar companion, and on the temperature and mass of the circumstellar disk. Our results show that for binary companions near the limit of tidal truncation of the disk, the perturbation leads to an enhanced accretion rate onto the primary, decreasing the lifetime of the particles in the protoplanetary disk with respect to the case of a single star. As a consequence of an enhanced accretion rate the mass of the disk decreases faster, which leads to a longer resultant lifetime for particles in the disk. On the other hand, binary companions may induce tidal arms in the dust phase of protoplanetary disks. Spiral perturbations with m = 1 may increase in a factor 10 or more the dust surface density in the neighbourhood of the arm, facilitating the growth of the particles. Moreover, in a massive disk (0.01M⊙) the survival time of particles is significantly shorter than in a less massive nebula (0.001M⊙) and the temperature of the disk severely influences the spiral-in time of particles. The rapid evolution of the dust component found in post T Tauri stars can be explained as a result of their binary nature. Binarity may also influence the evolution of circumpulsar disks. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.  相似文献   

Facies differentiation caused by wrench deformation along a deep-seated fault system (León line, Cantabrian Mountains, North Spain)—discussion     

Alberto Marcos 《Tectonophysics》1979,60(3-4):303-308

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Microbial biomass response to different quantities and sources of organic matter in Brazilian coastal sediments          下载免费PDF全文

Cintia O. Quintana  Paula C. de Moraes  Marcos Y. Yoshinaga  Stuart G. Wakeham  Paulo Y. G. Sumida 《Marine Ecology》2015,36(3):766-779

This study investigates the benthic microbial responses to organic matter (OM) variations in quantity and sources in two shallow water bays (Fortaleza and Ubatuba Bays) on the SE coast of Brazil on six occasions during the year. The pelagic and benthic compartments of the bays were evaluated by: (i) nutrients and chlorophyll a (Chl a) in the water column; (ii) quantity and sources of OM in the sediment (Chl a, total organic carbon and total nitrogen and lipid biomarker composition); and (iii) microbial biomass in sediments as an indicator of active benthic response. Although there were changes in water‐column nutrients during the year, Chl a was fairly constant, suggesting a regular supply of microalgae‐derived OM to the sea bottom. Based on the composition of lipid biomarkers in sediments, OM sources were classified as mostly marine and with high contributions of labile (microalgae‐derived) OM. Labile OM composition varied from diatoms in the summer to phytoflagellates in the winter and tended to accumulate in areas protected by physical disturbances in one of the bays. Microbial biomass followed this trend and was 160% higher in protected than in exposed areas. This study suggests that the coupling between labile OM and benthic microbial biomass occurs primarily in protected areas, irrespective of the time of the year. Since meio‐ and macrofaunal assemblages depend upon secondary microbial production within the sediments, this coupling may have an important role for the benthic food‐web.  相似文献   

Taxonomic sufficiency for soft-bottom sublittoral mollusks assemblages in a tropical estuary, Guanabara Bay, Southeast Brazil     

Mendes CL  Tavares M  Soares-Gomes A 《Marine pollution bulletin》2007,54(4):377-384

Guanabara Bay (GB) is considered to be one of the most polluted environments of the southern Brazilian coastline. This typical estuarine system is impacted by the heavy discharge of both industrial and domestic waste from the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area. The mollusc community structure and distribution was investigated between 2000 and 2001, using a three month sampling design of 38 stations, according to austral seasons. Species abundance was aggregated into progressively higher taxa matrices (genus, family, order) and were analysed using multivariate techniques. Mollusc distribution in GB varied significantly in space and time and was probably ruled by the organic enrichment effects of hypoxia and altered redox conditions coupled with prevailing patterns of circulation. Within the sectors of GB an increasing gradient in mollusc diversity and occurrence was observed, ranging from the azoic and impoverished stations in the inner sector to a well-structured community in terms of species composition and abundance inhabiting the outer sector. The non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) and cluster analysis showed similar results when species were aggregated into genera and families, while greater difference occurred at coarser taxonomic identification (order). The literature about taxonomic sufficiency has demonstrated that faunal patterns at different taxonomic levels tend to become similar with increased pollution. In Guanabara Bay, an analysis carried out solely at family level is perfectly adequate to describe the ecophysiological stress. Further aggregation to order level changed the perceived patterns of differences. However, a different taxonomic resolution can be chosen depending on the type of ecological patterns investigated.  相似文献   

Stramonita haemastoma as a bioindicator for organotin contamination in coastal environments     

Limaverde AM  Wagener Ade L  Fernandez MA  Scofield Ade L  Coutinho R 《Marine environmental research》2007,64(3):384-398

Stramonita haemastoma was investigated as a suitable bioindicator of TBT and TPhT contamination in the tropical Atlantic Ocean by: 1. Imposex induction in healthy females after inoculation with TBT and TPhT in the laboratory; and 2. Determining incidence of imposex in S. haemastoma collected from areas with various levels of tributyltin (TBT) and triphenyltin (TPhT) and determining the concentrations of these chemical in its tissues and that of its prey, the mussell Perna pernas. Imposex intensities and organotin concentrations in tissues showed good correlation, indicating S. haemastoma as a reliable bioindicator of TBT and TPhT contamination in coastal waters. Body burden threshold of TBT and TPhT for imposex induction was estimated to be 10-20 ng g(-1).  相似文献