Assessment of organic pollutants in the offshore sediments of Dubai, United Arab Emirates     

H. A. Al Darwish  E. A. Abd El-Gawad  F. H. Mohammed  M. M. Lotfy 《Environmental Geology》2005,48(4-5):531-542

Fifteen stations (st) were selected along Dubai coastal region to delineate the distribution and the source of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH), total organic carbon (TOC), total Kjeldhal nitrogen (TKN), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls. The concentrations of TPH fluctuated between 2 μg g ⁻¹ and 48018 μg g ⁻¹ and the values of TOC were in the range of 0.16–5.9 wt%, while TPAHs ranged from 0.09 μg g ⁻¹ to 161.72 μg g ⁻¹. On the other hand, TPCBs showed values between 0.8 μg kg⁻¹ and 93.3 μg kg⁻¹ and TKN values varied from 218 μg g⁻¹ to 2457 μg g ⁻¹. Distribution of oil and organic compounds in Dubai sediments are safe compared with previous studies except for limited areas at the northeastern offshore. These readings are probably due to: (1) presence of commercial or industrial ports, dry docks and fishing harbours and (2) population centers mainly concentrated at the northern part of the study area. Results indicate that TOC can be used as indicator of oil pollution only in heavily oiled sediments. The highest values of TOC, TPH, TPAHs and TPCBs corresponded to the stations covered with fine sand, due to adsorption properties and larger surface area. The evaporation of low boiling point compounds from surface layers led to enrichment of sediments with the thick residual. Al-Hamriya St 3 exhibited the highest values of TPH, TOC, TPAHs and TPCBs and the second highest value of TKN.  相似文献   

Distribution of clay minerals in surface sediments of the Aegean Sea: a compilation     

Werner Ehrmann  Gerhard Schmiedl  Yvonne Hamann  Tanja Kuhnt 《International Journal of Earth Sciences》2007,96(4):769-780

Extensive published data sets and some new data on the clay mineral composition of surface sediments in the Aegean Sea, northeastern Mediterranean Sea, have been compiled in order to map the distribution patterns of clay mineral assemblages and to decipher source areas and transport paths. We distinguished six provinces, a Northwest Aegean Province, a Marmara-Dardanelles Province, a West Turkey Province, a Southeast Aegean Province, a Kithira Province and a Central Aegean Province. The clay mineral assemblages in the coastal and shelf areas carry the signature of the riverine sediment discharge from southeast Europe and Turkey, respectively. The southern Aegean Sea is probably influenced by the River Nile discharge and transport of clay minerals by surface currents. The clay minerals in the central Aegean Sea form a mixed assemblage comprising components of the other assemblages. A dispersion and dilution of clay minerals by surface currents is obvious.  相似文献   

The role of volcanic eruptions in blocking the drainage leading to the Dead Sea formation     

Elias Salameh  Mohammed Al Farajat 《Environmental Geology》2007,52(3):519-527

The shrinkage of the Lisan Lake (LL) to form the recent Dead Sea (DS) was mainly a result of the reduction of the catchment area from around 157,000 km² during Late Pleistocene to 43,000 km² presently. The reduction in the catchment area resulted from the eruption and spread of the basalt flows of Jabal Arab-Druz (JAD), which together with the resulting deposition of thick rock debris and gravels occupied the drainage system. The filling of the pre-basalt drainage system, which used to feed the Dead Sea, with basalts and alluvial sediments blocked the inflows from reaching the Dead Sea. Local base levels along the basalt flow boarders such as Azraq Oasis, Sirhan Basin and Damascus Oasis, and numerous pools and mud flats were created.  相似文献   

Characterisation of sea-water intrusion in the Pioneer Valley, Australia using hydrochemistry and three-dimensional numerical modelling     

A. D. Werner  M. R. Gallagher 《Hydrogeology Journal》2006,14(8):1452-1469

Sea-water intrusion is actively contaminating fresh groundwater reserves in the coastal aquifers of the Pioneer Valley, north-eastern Australia. A three-dimensional sea-water intrusion model has been developed using the MODHMS code to explore regional-scale processes and to aid assessment of management strategies for the system. A sea-water intrusion potential map, produced through analyses of the hydrochemistry, hydrology and hydrogeology, offsets model limitations by providing an alternative appraisal of susceptibility. Sea-water intrusion in the Pioneer Valley is not in equilibrium, and a potential exists for further landward shifts in the extent of saline groundwater. The model required consideration of tidal over-height (the additional hydraulic head at the coast produced by the action of tides), with over-height values in the range 0.5–0.9 m giving improved water-table predictions. The effect of the initial water-table condition dominated the sensitivity of the model to changes in the coastal hydraulic boundary condition. Several salination processes are probably occurring in the Pioneer Valley, rather than just simple landward sea-water advancement from “modern” sources of marine salts. The method of vertical discretisation (i.e. model-layer subdivision) was shown to introduce some errors in the prediction of water-table behaviour.  相似文献   

Rise and fall of road salt contamination of water-supply springs     

Eberhard Werner  Richard S. diPretoro 《Environmental Geology》2006,51(4):537-543

A storage pile of de-icing agent consisting principally of sodium chloride was placed in the recharge area of two springs, and remained there for 2 years. Water flow is through fractures in rocks with low matrix permeability, along a hydraulic gradient developed along fracture zones. Salt contamination in the springs was noticed about 1 year after the salt was placed. When the salt was removed 1 year later, chloride concentrations in the springs exceeded 500 mg/L. Monitoring for the following 5 years showed salt contamination rising for the first year, but receding to normal background after 5 years. Chloride to sodium ratios of the spring waters indicated that some sodium was initially sequestered, probably by ion exchange on clay minerals, in the early part of the monitoring period, and released during the latter part; thereby extending the period of contamination.Richard S. diPretoro: deceased  相似文献   

Bayesian Modelling of Spatial Data Using Markov Random Fields, With Application to Elemental Composition of Forest Soil     

Linda Werner Hartman 《Mathematical Geology》2006,38(2):113-133

Spatial datasets are common in the environmental sciences. In this study we suggest a hierarchical model for a spatial stochastic field. The main focus of this article is to approximate a stochastic field with a Gaussian Markov Random Field (GMRF) to exploit computational advantages of the Markov field, concerning predictions, etc. The variation of the stochastic field is modelled as a linear trend plus microvariation in the form of a GMRF defined on a lattice. To estimate model parameters we adopt a Bayesian perspective, and use Monte Carlo integration with samples from Markov Chain simulations. Our methods does not demand lattice, or near-lattice data, but are developed for a general spatial data-set, leaving the lattice to be specified by the modeller. The model selection problem that comes with the artificial grid is in this article addressed with cross-validation, but we also suggest other alternatives. From the application of the methods to a data set of elemental composition of forest soil, we obtained predictive distributions at arbitrary locations as well as estimates of model parameters.  相似文献   

Hollandite–strontiomelane solid solutions coexisting with kanonaite and braunite in late quartz veins of the Stavelot Massif, Ardennes, Belgium     

Werner Schreyer  André-Mathieu Fransolet  Heinz-Jürgen Bernhardt 《Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology》2001,141(5):560-571

In a newly found type of quartz vein cross-cutting the famous "viridine"-bearing phyllites at Le Coreux, hollandite, ideally BaMn₈O₁₆, was discovered for the first time at this locality and in Belgium. Because the crystals contain up to 60 mol% of the Sr end member, this is also the second occurrence of strontiomelane. The coexisting "viridine" (= kanonaite) contains the highest amount (88 mol%) of the ideal end member MnAlSiO₅ ever found worldwide. The hollandite-type minerals are intimately intergrown with braunite containing appreciable Ca and Mg. Ba-bearing muscovite, Fe-poor excess-Al clinochlore (not quite trioctahedral), and albite are the remaining accessory minerals in the dominant quartz matrix. Microprobe analyses of all phases show rather extreme element fractionations: nearly all K is located in muscovite and none in the hollandite phase despite the existence of the end member KMn₈O₁₆ (cryptomelane). Similarly, nearly all Na is in albite and not in hollandite (no NaMn₈O₁₆=manjiroite component). Nearly all Mn resides in the two oxide phases and in kanonaite. Mg is strongly fractionated into chlorite. The small amounts of Fe and Ti present are predominantly partitioned into the hollandite phase, which also accommodates most of the Ba and Sr. Indeed, the hollandite phase is stabilized by the latter two elements relative to other Mn oxides. Kanonaite is stabilized by Al. Although no requisite sites are available in its crystal structure, braunite always contains small amounts of Ba and Sr. However, the Sr/(Sr+Ba) ratios in braunite are spurious and unrelated to those of the directly adjoining hollandite phases The conditions of formation of these veins may be well below 300 °C at low pressures (1-2 kbar), in agreement with the experimental results that the maximum Mn contents in kanonaite increase with falling temperatures.  相似文献   

Mass transfer in hydrothermal alteration systems—A conceptual approach     

Werner F. Giggenbach 《Geochimica et cosmochimica acta》1984,48(12):2693-2711

At very low fluid/rock mass ratios the hydrothermal alteration process corresponds to isochemical recrystallisation of the primary rock. The resulting full equilibrium assemblage with the composition of an average crustal rock contains the phases albite, K-feldspar, K-mica, biotite, quartz and (depending on temperature) epidote, prehnite or one of the Ca-zeolites. Relative Na⁺, K⁺, Mg²⁺ and Ca²⁺—solution activities in such a rock-dominated alteration system are uniquely fixed and provide useful reference points with regard to the degree of attainment of full fluid/rock equilibrium. With increasing fluid/rock mass ratios the composition of now increasingly fluid-dominated alteration assemblages is determined by the interplay of three major processes: hydrogen metasomatism as a function of CO₂ reactivity increasing with the horizontal distance from major fluid upflow zones and leading to the formation of Al-enriched alteration assemblages; potassium metasomatism accompanied by silicification in or close to major fluid upflow zones leading to potassic and phyllic alteration; sodium, magnesium, calcium metasomatism associated with descending and heating solutions leading to propylytic alteration of recharge zones. Two new parameters, reactivity and exchangeability, determining the effectiveness of fluid components with respect to hydrothermal alteration are introduced.  相似文献   

Effect of organic acids and fluoride on the dissolution kinetics of hydrous alumina. A model study using the rotating disc electrode     

Vera Žutić  Werner Stumm 《Geochimica et cosmochimica acta》1984,48(7):1493-1503

The dissolution of aluminium oxide was studied with an oxide film covered rotating disc aluminium electrode. This allows us to make measurements under conditions of well defined mass transport under conditions representative of those found in natural waters (conc. of Al, organic acids and fluoride), and permits us to distinguish between surface-controlled and transport-controlled rates.Under steady-state conditions, the dissolution current is a direct measure of the flux of dissolving Al ions at the aqueous interface of the amorphous hydrous oxide film.At pH 3–6 and in presence of organic ligands, dissolution is controlled by a surface process, i.e. the rate of detachment of surface complexes. Fluoride ions in concentrations ≥ 10^?6 M increase dramatically the dissolution rate: at pH = 4 the process is controlled by convertive diffusion of F^? from the solution to the surface (k_F- = (3.6 ± 0.5) × 10^?2cms^?1). Competitive and reversible adsorption of organic ligands (10^?6 ? 10^?2M) displacing fluoride slows down the rate of detachment of the surface complex which becomes the rate-limiting step. The affinity of ligands for the Al₂O₃ surface sites increases in the sequence: formate ~ chloride ~ carbonate < acetate < sulphate < salicylate < fumarate < maleate < malonate ? oxalate ? fluoride ≤ citrate.The results are compared with simulated weathering experiments and interpreted in terms of the surface complexation model.  相似文献   

Is dissolved Mn2+ being oxidized by O2 in absence of Mn-bacteria or surface catalysts?     

Dieter Diem  Werner Stumm 《Geochimica et cosmochimica acta》1984,48(7):1571-1573

Homogeneous Mn(II) solutions that are not oversaturated with respect to MnCO₃ or Mn(OH)₂, in the absence of catalysts, remain in the presence of dissolved oxygen unoxidized for periods in excess of seven years. Measurable oxygenation rates are observed in solutions that are oversaturated with respect to MnCO₃ or in waters containing “Mn-bacteria” or other surface catalysts.  相似文献