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
Low molecular weight organic acids (LMWOAs) are important components of root exudates. They play an important role in immobilizing and remobilizing contaminants in rhizospheric soil. Effects of four LMWOAs on the sorption and desorption behavior of p-chlorophenol by yellow earth was studied in batch mode. The results showed that the previous application of LMWOAs to enhanced adsorption capacity of p-chlorophenol of the soil in the order of maleic acid〉malic acid〉oxalic acid〉citric acid. However, when LMWOAs were applied to soil where p-chlorophenol had been previously adsorbed, substantial p-chlorophenol was desorbed from soil by oxalic acid, whereas citric acid, malic acid and maleic acid didn't desorb as much p-chlorophenol from soil as deionized water. 相似文献
The Bridport Sand Formation is an intensely bioturbated sandstone that represents part of a mixed siliciclastic‐carbonate shallow‐marine depositional system. At outcrop and in subsurface cores, conventional facies analysis was combined with ichnofabric analysis to identify facies successions bounded by a hierarchy of key stratigraphic surfaces. The geometry of these surfaces and the lateral relationships between the facies successions that they bound have been constrained locally using 3D seismic data. Facies analysis suggests that the Bridport Sand Formation represents progradation of a low‐energy, siliciclastic shoreface dominated by storm‐event beds reworked by bioturbation. The shoreface sandstones form the upper part of a thick (up to 200 m), steep (2–3°), mud‐dominated slope that extends into the underlying Down Cliff Clay. Clinoform surfaces representing the shoreface‐slope system are grouped into progradational sets. Each set contains clinoform surfaces arranged in a downstepping, offlapping manner that indicates forced‐regressive progradation, which was punctuated by flooding surfaces that are expressed in core and well‐log data. In proximal locations, progradational shoreface sandstones (corresponding to a clinoform set) are truncated by conglomerate lags containing clasts of bored, reworked shoreface sandstones, which are interpreted as marking sequence boundaries. In medial locations, progradational clinoform sets are overlain across an erosion surface by thin (<5 m) bioclastic limestones that record siliciclastic‐sediment starvation during transgression. Near the basin margins, these limestones are locally thick (>10 m) and overlie conglomerate lags at sequence boundaries. Sequence boundaries are thus interpreted as being amalgamated with overlying transgressive surfaces, to form composite erosion surfaces. In distal locations, oolitic ironstones that formed under conditions of extended physical reworking overlie composite sequence boundaries and transgressive surfaces. Over most of the Wessex Basin, clinoform sets (corresponding to high‐frequency sequences) are laterally offset, thus defining a low‐frequency sequence architecture characterized by high net siliciclastic sediment input and low net accommodation. Aggradational stacking of high‐frequency sequences occurs in fault‐bounded depocentres which had higher rates of localized tectonic subsidence. 相似文献
Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is an important chemical component in natural water. Chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM), a fraction of optical properties, plays art important role in the biogeochemical cycle of nutrients in aquatic environment. People realized that DOM cycle is crucial in the global carbon and nitrogen flux, and also is inherently related to nutrients and trace metal elements. Therefore, CDOM was concerned by scientists in global oceanography and limnology fields. Water samples were collected from three sections (North Channel, South Channel and Zhuyuan) of the Yangtze (Changjiang River) estuary in March 2006 Three-dimensional excitation emission matrix (3-DEEM) fluorescence spectra were analyzed for those filtrates through Whatman GF/F filters. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) was also measured by TOC analyzer. The tidal variety was also taken into account. The 3-D EEM fluorescence scans suggested the fluorescence characteristics of humic acid (Ex=332-344 nm, Em=439-451 nm) and fulvic acid (Ex=250-254 nm, Em=472-478 nm) were obvious, and the fluorescence group of protein-like and tyrosine (Ex=230 nm, Em=283 nm) was also found. They are mainly composed of CDOM in the Yangtze estuary. Further data analysis, especially the fluorescence index (f 450/500), showed that terrestrial signal was rather strong (1.41-1.65) in the surface water, however, some terrestrial CDOM signals of bottom water showed excursions (1.28-1.39). On the other hand, anthropogenic sign was impressed in the waters of Zhuyuan, which is one of the main drain outlets of Shanghai Metropolis. DOC concentrations ranged from 2.2 mg/L to 3.4 mg/L in Zhuyuan and South Channel, and from 2.0 mg/L to 2.4 mg/L in North Channel. The tide effect played a role in the composition of the CDOM measured by 3-D fluorescence scan technology. 相似文献
We report here a multiphase mineral inclusion composed of quartz, plagioclase, K-feldspar, sapphirine, spinel, orthopyroxene, and biotite, in porphyroblastic garnet within a pelitic granulite from Rajapalaiyam in the Madurai Granulite Block, southern India. In this unique textural association, hitherto unreported in previous studies, sapphirine shows four occurrences: (1) as anhedral mineral between spinel and quartz (Spr-1), (2) subhedral to euhedral needles mantled by quartz (Spr-2), (3) subhedral to anhedral mineral in orthopyroxene, and (4) isolated inclusion with quartz (Spr-4). Spr-1, Spr-2, and Spr-4 show direct grain contact with quartz, providing evidence for ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) metamorphism at temperatures exceeding 1000 °C. Associated orthopyroxene shows high Mg/(Fe + Mg) ratio ( 0.75) and Al2O3 content (up to 9.6 wt.%), also suggesting T > 1050 °C and P > 10 kbar during peak metamorphism.
Coarse spinel (Spl-1) with irregular grain morphology and adjacent quartz grains are separated by thin films of Spr-1 and K-feldspar, suggesting that Spl-1 and quartz were in equilibrium before the stability of Spr-1 + quartz. This texture implies that the P–T conditions of the rock shifted from the stability field of spinel + quartz to sapphirine + quartz. Petrogenetic grid considerations based on available data from the FMAS system favour exhumation along a counterclockwise P–T trajectory. The irregular shape of the inclusion and chemistry of the inclusion minerals are markedly different from the matrix phases suggesting the possibility that the inclusion minerals could have equilibrated from cordierite-bearing silicate-melt pockets during the garnet growth at extreme UHT conditions. 相似文献
Compressional and shear wave velocities and attenuation measurements have been carried out in some of the borehole samples
of acidic, basic and intermediate granulites of Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, India. The results have been obtained at ambient
conditions using ‘time-of-flight’ pulse transmission technique at 1.0 MHz frequency. The results show linear relationships
between velocity and density, and velocity and attenuation properties of the rocks. The acidic granulites show lower velocities
and higher attenuation than the intermediate and basic granulites. The average values of the Poisson’s ratio of acidic, intermediate
and basic granulites have been found to be 0.210, 0.241 and 0.279 respectively. The variations in velocities and attenuation
in these low porosity crystalline rocks are found to be strongly influenced by their mineral composition. The laboratory velocity
data (extrapolated to high pressure) of the present study and the published field velocity data from deep seismic sounding
studies indicate that these granulite facies rocks may belong to mid-crustal depths only. 相似文献
An 11-month observation of dissolved and particulate organic matter, chlorophyll a(Chl a), C18 Sep-Pak extractable hydrophobic dissolved organic matter (hDOM) fraction and associated dissolved trace metals (Cd,
Cu, V, Co, Ni, Mo, U) was performed in the Lot–Garonne River system. This system includes the Riou Mort, the Lot River and
the downstream reaches of the Garonne River and represents the fluvial transport path of trace metals between the major point
source of polymetallic pollution, located in the Riou Mort watershed and the Gironde estuary. Spatial and temporal variations
of dissolved and particulate organic carbon and Chl areflect the presence of different types of organic matter and their relation with the hDOM fraction. Maximum Chl a/POC ratios (up to 0.03), indicate intense phytoplankton production from March to May. In the Lot River (Temple), DOC and
POC concentrations were clearly higher and mean Chl a concentration (2.8 mg g−1) was about three times higher than those of the other sites. High Chl a/POC ratios suggest high phytoplankton activity with maxima in spring and late summer. In the Riou Mort River, very high POC
concentrations of up to 40 (mean: 20) occurred, whereas Chl a concentrations were relatively low indicating low phytoplankton activity. High, strongly variable DOC and POC concentrations
suggest important natural (Carboniferous soils, forests) or anthropogenic (e.g., former coal mines, waste areas, agriculture,
sewage) carbon sources within the small Riou Mort watershed. Despite high DOC concentrations in the Riou Mort River, hDOM
metal fractions were generally lower than those at the other sites. The general order of decreasing binding strength between
metals and the organic hydrophobic phase (Cu, U > Co, Ni > V, Mo > Cd) at all four sites was in good agreement with the Irving–William
series of transition element affinity towards organic ligands. Accordingly, the role of the hydrophobic phase in dissolved
Cd transport appeared to be negligible, whereas the hDOM–Cu fraction strongly contributed to dissolved Cu transport. 相似文献