Current impact of mining alkaline rocks on Save River water quality in Zimbabwe     

M. Meck  J. Atlhopheng  W.R.L. Masamba 《Journal of African Earth Sciences》2009,55(1-2):58

Alkaline rocks (phosphate deposits in particular) of igneous origin are currently being mined in Zimbabwe. Exploitation of these deposits, which are associated with metals and non-metals, provides a potential for changing the river water quality in the surrounding areas by increasing metal and phosphates levels in the water, thereby endangering the beneficial use of the river. The aim and objectives of this paper are to enumerate the current impacts associated with mining alkaline rocks on Save River water quality in Zimbabwe using the Dorowa mine as a case study. Though there are several impacts associated with the mining of alkaline rocks, this paper deals only with impacts on water quality.A preliminary assessment of the water quality in the Save River downstream of the Dorowa phosphate mine showed an increase in conductivity, iron content, manganese content, nitrates and hardness when compared to those taken before mining activity began. However, there was no notable increase in phosphate and metals except for Fe and Mn. A plausible explanation for the low phosphate values in the water is that the phosphates are precipitating and settling as sediments. Phosphate is known to effectively remove metals from the surface water through the formation of metal–phosphate minerals. Thus, various pollutants may be adsorbed into sediments accumulated on the bottom of the river. These sediments may accumulate pollutants over long periods and act as new pollutant sources to the overlying water when phosphate desorbs from sediments due to changes in water conditions. Therefore, the sediments can act as a source of water pollution in the future.  相似文献   

Modelling the biogeochemistry of a tidal flat ecosystem with EcoTiM     

Cora?KohlmeierEmail author  Wolfgang?Ebenh?h 《Ocean Dynamics》2009,59(2):393-415

The ecological tidal model simulates the cycling of carbon, nitrogen, phosphate, and silicate and describes the tidal, diurnal, and annual dynamics of the back barrier area of the island Spiekeroog in the German Bight. The region is characterized by strong tidal currents and extensive tidal flats. It is strongly influenced by the conditions in the southern part of the German Bight. This model study investigates the dependence of the model behavior on the boundary conditions and the forcing. The effect of short- and long-term sea level rise on nutrient and plankton dynamics is analyzed. As the model is set up as semi-Lagrangian with only a coarse approximation of the hydrodynamics, the seasonal and intratidal variability in the biogeochemical cycling can only be reproduced qualitatively. By varying the boundary conditions, the intrinsic dynamics of the back barrier area can be separated from boundary condition effects. This study shows that any agreement between model results and field data cannot be expected without correct boundary conditions. The seasonal variability is of major importance, while higher-frequency variability only plays a minor role.  相似文献   

Rio Tinto estuary (Spain): 5000 years of pollution   总被引：6，自引：0，他引：6  

R.A. Davis Jr.  A. T. Welty  J. Borrego  J. A. Morales  J. G. Pendon  J. G. Ryan 《Environmental Geology》2000,39(10):1107-1116

 Mining of massive sulfide deposits in southwestern Spain extending back to the Copper and Bronze Ages has resulted in the pollution of the Rio Tinto fluvial-estuarine complex, the site of Columbus' departure for the New World in 1492. Additional sources of potential pollution include the large industrial complex at Huelva near the lower portion of the estuary. Extensive analysis of surface sediment samples and cores has established that there are no geographic trends in the distribution of the pollutants, which include Cu, Fe, Pb, Zn, Ti, Ba, Cr, V and Co. These data have, however, demonstrated that tidal flux within the estuary carries phosphorus and perhaps other elements from the industrial complex at Huelva to the tidal limit of the system, several kilometers upstream from the discharge site. Radiometric analysis of short cores shows that sedimentation rates over at least the past couple of centuries have been about 0.3 cm/year. These data and that from a single deep core demonstrate that the estuary was polluted from mining activity long before the large-scale operations began in the late nineteenth century. Received: 3 May 1999 · Accepted: 18 October 1999  相似文献   

Sedimentology and early diagenesis of the Broadford Beds (Lower Jurassic), Skye,north-west Scotland     

Alison Searl 《Geological Journal》1992,27(3):243-270

The Broadford Beds comprise a basal carbonate-dominated unit overlain by dark muddy sandstones and an upper cross-bedded sandstone unit. The limestones include coralliferous and oolitic lithologies and the sandstones include pisolitic berthierine ironstones and abundant phosphate nodules. The Broadford Beds have a maximum thickness of 140 m and can be subdivided into 17 parasequences, each initiated by an approximately 20 m rise in relative sea level. Marine flooding surfaces are most readily recognized in the lower parts of the succession, where diagenetic data can be utilized to locate emergence surfaces. There is no diagenetic evidence of early emergence in the upper parts of the sequence, but a variety of sedimentological data can be used to identify parasequence boundaries. Deposition of the Broadford Beds occurred largely around the shores of a number of islands in the northern Hebridean area. These islands partly isolated the Skye–Applecross area from a deeper marine basin to the west, and this may have enhanced the formation of authigenic phosphates and iron silicates. It is possible to use the regional variability of parasequence thicknesses to investigate the role of active local tectonism in governing differential subsidence and sediment supply.  相似文献   

Occurrence of phosphatic microfossils in an Ediacaran–Cambrian mid-oceanic paleo-atoll limestone of southern Siberia   总被引：1，自引：1，他引：0  

Yuko Uchio  Yukio Isozaki  Michael M. Buslov  Shigenori Maruyama 《Gondwana Research》2008,14(1-2):183

New phosphatic microfossils were recently discovered in an Ediacaran–Cambrian mid-oceanic paleo-atoll limestone in the southern Gorny Altai Mountains in southern Siberia. Microfossils with calcium phosphate shells are abundant in the limestone that occurs as an exotic block within a Cambrian accretionary complex in the Kurai area. SEM observations confirm that the calcium phosphatic shells are ellipsoidal and equal-sized, about 200–300 μm in diameter. Shell walls are about 1 μm thick. As the absence of external and internal structures hinders a detailed comparison/identification, these microfossils are tentatively treated here as paleontological problematica. EPMA-analysis confirmed the concentration of elements P and Ca in microfossil shells and the absence in the matrix, suggesting the primary phosphatic composition of the shells. Because phosphatic microfossils are generally scarce in the Ediacaran but abundant from the Lower Cambrian, in particular within pre-trilobitic SSF assemblages, the phosphatic fossil-bearing limestone in the Kurai area possibly belongs to the Lower Cambrian. The present find proves that mid-oceanic paleo-seamounts as well as continental shelf domains had already been inhabited by diverse metazoans in the Ediacaran–Cambrian transitional interval.  相似文献   

川芎嗪对铁过载原代培养脐静脉内皮细胞超氧化物歧化酶、活性氧表达的影响     

YaFeng Zhang  XinPing Wang  YanXia Pan  Rui Hu 《寒旱区科学》2017,9(5):495-502

目的 探讨铁过载对原代培养脐静脉内皮细胞（HUVECS）超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）、活性氧表达的影响及川芎嗪的干预效应。方法 使用酶联免疫法（ELISA）检测体外培养铁过载脐静脉内皮细胞表达的超氧化物歧化酶和活性氧的含量。结果 与空白组比较,模型组超氧化物歧化酶的含量显著降低（P<0.01）,给药组超氧化物歧化酶与模型组比较,差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）;模型组活性氧含量显著高于空白组（P<0.01）,与模型组相比,给药组活性氧含量有明显降低（P<0.05）。结论 川芎嗪能抑制脐静脉内皮细胞铁过载导致的氧化应激,有通过抗氧化应激发挥抗动脉粥样硬化的作用。  相似文献   

Mapping radon-prone areas - a geophysical approach     

Shirav M.  U. Vulkan 《Environmental Geology》1997,31(3-4):167-173

 Radon-prone areas in Israel were mapped on the basis of direct measurements of radon (²²²Rn) in the soil/rock gas of all exposed geological units, supported by the accumulated knowledge of local stratigraphy and sub-surface geology. Measurements were carried out by a modified alpha-track detection system, resulting in high radon levels mainly in rocks of the Senonian-Paleocene-aged Mount Scopus Group, comprised of chert-bearing marly chalks, rich in phosphorite which acts as the major uranium source. Issues of source depth, seasonal variations and comparison with indoor radon levels are addressed as well. This approach could be applied to other similar terrains, especially the Mediterranean Phosphate Belt.  相似文献   

Binding of thorium(IV) to carboxylate, phosphate and sulfate functional groups from marine exopolymeric substances (EPS)   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

Nicols G. Alvarado Quiroz  Chin-Chang Hung  Peter H. Santschi 《Marine Chemistry》2006,100(3-4):337

Th(IV) isotopes are important proxies in oceanographic investigations, and are used as tracers of particle dynamics and particulate organic matter (POC) fluxes out of the euphotic zone through the use of ²³⁴Th/POC ratios. These approaches rely on empirically determined and variable POC to ²³⁴Th ratios, which might be controlled, in parts, by the abundance of exopolymeric substances (EPS). EPS contain acidic polysaccharides (APS) and are excreted by both phytoplankton and bacteria. To this end, radiotracer experiments with EPS from microbial cultures were conducted to determine the binding environment of ²³⁴Th(IV)-binding ligands in colloids and suspended particles in marine systems. In these experiments, the ²³⁴Th distribution during isoelectric focusing (IEF) and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) was related to the functional group composition of EPS and of colloidal organic matter (COM) isolated from the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) using cross-flow ultrafiltration. EPS was extracted from phytoplankton (Emiliania huxleyi and Synechococcus elongatus) and bacteria (Sagittula stellata and Roseobacter gallaeciensis) cultures by repeated alcohol precipitation. Phosphate and sulfate concentrations were determined using ion chromatography (IC). IEF profiles indicated that 49% to 65% of the ²³⁴Th-labeled EPS from plankton and bacteria as well as COM samples from the GOM was found concentrated below pH of 4, near an isoelectric point, pH_IEP, of about 2. The carboxylic acid maxima for extracted EPS and COM samples appeared close to the pH_IEF of ²³⁴Th(IV). The phosphate maximum appeared at the same pH_IEF as ²³⁴Th(IV) for EPS from R. gallaeciensis and S. elongatus. The sulfate maximum was found at the same pH_IEF as ²³⁴Th(IV) for EPS from S. elongatus and COM. The molecular weight (MW) of the strongly Th(IV)-binding ligand varied from 1 to 14 kDa, depending on the species, but was about 10 kDa in COM. Thus, depending on the species of plankton or bacteria, the MW and specific functional group composition of the strongly ²³⁴Th(IV)-binding amphiphilic biomolecule can vary. Therefore, different acidic functional groups can, at times, contribute to the binding of Th(IV) to the EPS chelating ligand, which can also have different MWs. This implies that the binding environment for Th(IV), which is present at total concentrations at least a million times lower than the acid functional groups, consists of strong polydentate chelate complexes in clustered structures of carboxylate, sulfates and/or phosphates. The combination of strongly chelating groups and amphiphilicity gives this biomolecule the unique properties of a “sticky” ligand.  相似文献   

The phosphoric acid leak from the wreck of the MV Ece in the English Channel in 2006: Assessment with a ship of opportunity, an operational ecosystem model and historical data     

Kelly-Gerreyn BA  Hydes DJ  Hartman MC  Siddorn J  Hyder P  Holt MW 《Marine pollution bulletin》2007,54(7):850-862

This study evaluates the ship of opportunity (Ferrybox) concept for both sustained monitoring of UK shelf sea waters and numerical model validation. Release of phosphate from the wreck of a chemical tanker (MV Ece) in the western English Channel (49.73 degrees N, 3.25 degrees W) in March 2006 is used to demonstrate the importance of sustained observations in decision support systems and policy development. The Ferrybox system continuously collects sea surface (5m) data from a suite of autonomous electronic sensors installed on a passenger ferry operating year-round between Portsmouth (UK) and Bilbao (Spain). The detection of anomalously high concentrations of phosphate (1.54mmolm(-3), four times the usual level) and onset of phytoplankton growth close to the wreck site in March 2006 was placed in the context of multiple years of measurements (phosphate, nitrate, silicate and chlorophyll) collected from the Ferrybox system (2003-2006) and the long-term time series station E1 (50.03 degrees N, 4.65 degrees W, 1930-1987) in the English Channel. With regard to decision support, release of phosphate from the tanker is unlikely to pose a threat as phytoplankton growth at the end of winter is not unusual in this region and dissolved inorganic nitrogen rather than phosphate (DIN:DIP=10-18) is likely to ultimately limit algal growth in spring 2006. With regard to policy development, the Oslo and Paris (OSPAR) commissions recommendation of sampling every three years in "non-problem areas" is likely to provide statistically inadequate data, given the interannual and decadal variability identified in the Ferrybox and E1 data: the Ferrybox data show that oceanic winter nutrient concentrations varied by 35-50% between 2003/2004 and 2005/2006 due to deeper mixing of water off-shelf in early 2005/2006 and comparisons between the Ferrybox and E1 years show that the western English Channel is currently experiencing a low in phosphate concentrations similar to those in the 1960s. The importance of Ferrybox data in evaluating the reliability of predictive operational models needed in decision support is also demonstrated, by highlighting both strengths and weaknesses in a state-of-the-art ecosystem model designed for UK shelf waters.  相似文献   

ROBUST: The ROle of BUffering capacities in STabilising coastal lagoon ecosystems     

Rutger de Wit  Lucas J. Stal  Bente Aa. Lomstein  Rodney A. Herbert  Hans van Gemerden  Pierluigi Viaroli  Victor-Ugo Cecherelli  Francisco Rodríguez-Valera  Marco Bartoli  Gianmarco Giordani  Roberta Azzoni  Bart Schaub  David T. Welsh  Andrew Donnelly  Ana Cifuentes  Josefa Antn  Kai Finster  Lise B. Nielsen  Anne-Grethe Underlien Pedersen  Anne Turi Neubauer  Marina A. Colangelo  Sander K. Heijs 《Continental Shelf Research》2001,21(18-19)

“Buffer capacities” has been defined in ecology as a holistic concept (e.g., Integration of Ecosystem Theories: A Pattern, second ed. Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1997, 388pp), but we show that it can also be worked out in mechanistic studies. Our mechanistic approach highlights that “buffering capacities” can be depleted progressively, and, therefore, we make a distinction between current and potential “buffering capacities”. We have applied this concept to understand the limited “local stability” in seagrass ecosystems and their vulnerability towards structural changes into macro-algal dominated communities. We explored the following processes and studied how they confer buffering capacities to the seagrass ecosystem: (i) net autotrophy is persistent in Zostera noltii meadows where plant assimilation acts as a sink for nutrients, this contrasted with the Ulva system that shifted back and forth between net autotrophy and net heterotrophy; (ii) the Z. noltii ecosystem possesses a certain albeit rather limited capacity to modify the balance between nitrogen fixation and denitrification, i.e., it was found that in situ nitrogen fixation always exceeded denitrification; (iii) the nitrogen demand of organoheterotrophic bacteria in the sediment results in nitrogen retention of N in the sediment and hence a buffer against release of nitrogen compounds from sediments, (iv) habitat diversification in seagrass meadows provides shelter for meiofauna and hence buffering against adverse conditions, (v) sedimentary iron provides a buffer against noxious sulfide (note: bacterial sulfide production is enhanced in anoxic sediment niches by increased organic matter loading). On the other hand, in the coastal system we studied, sedimentary iron appears less important as a redox-coupled buffer system against phosphate loading. This is because most inorganic phosphate is bound to calcium rather than to iron. In addition, our studies have highlighted the importance of plant–microbe interactions in the seagrass meadows.  相似文献