The 2019 Brumadinho tailings dam collapse: Possible cause and impacts of the worst human and environmental disaster in Brazil     

《International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation》2020

On 25th January 2019, the tailings dam of the Brumadinho iron mine operated by Vale S/A failed catastrophically. The death toll stood at 259 and 11 people remained missing as of January 2020. This tragedy occurred three years after Mariana’s tailings dam rupture – the most significant tailing dam disaster in Brazilian history. Thus far, a systematic investigation on the cause and effect of the failure has yet to be conducted. Here, we use satellite-driven soil moisture index, multispectral high-resolution imagery and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) products to assess pre-disaster scenarios and the direct causes of the tailings dam collapse. A decreasing trend in the moisture content at the surface and the full evanescence of pond water through time (2011–2019) suggest that the water was gradually penetrating the fill downwards and caused the seepage erosion, saturating the tailings dam. Large-scale slumping of the dam (extensional failure) upon the rupture indicates that the materials of the fill were already saturated. InSAR measurements reveal a dramatic, up to 30 cm subsidence in the dam (at the rear part) within the past 12 months before the dam collapse, signifying that the sediments had been removed from the fill. Although the information on the resistance level of the tailings dam to infiltrations is not available, these pieces of evidence collectively indicate that the seepage erosion (piping) is the primary cause for the chronic weakening of the structure and, hence, the internal “liquefaction” condition. Upon the collapse, the fully saturated mud tailings flowed down the gentle slope area (3.13 × 10⁶ m²), where 73 % were originally covered by tree, grass or agricultural tracts. The toxic mud eventually reached the Paraopeba River after travelling 10 km, abruptly increasing the suspended particulate matter (SPM) concentration and the toxic chemical elements in the river, immediately affecting the local livelihoods that depend on its water. The Paraopeba River is a major tributary of the San Francisco River, the second-longest river in Brazil reaching the Atlantic Ocean. We anticipate that the environmental repercussions of this toxic seepage will be felt throughout the entire basin, especially riverine communities located downstream.  相似文献   

广西土壤有机质空间变异特征及其影响因素研究   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

钟聪  李小洁  何园燕  邱微文  李杰  张新英  胡宝清 《地理科学》2020,40(3):478-485

基于广西第二次土壤普查的270个土壤剖面资料,结合1∶50万数字化土壤类型图、土地利用类型图和气象监测数据等资料,利用地统计学和逐步回归分析等方法对广西表层土壤有机质空间变异特征及其影响因素进行了探究。结果表明：广西表层土壤有机质平均含量为3.11±2.19%,变异系数为70.72%,空间分布呈北高南低的趋势。广西表层土壤有机质空间分布受到自然和人为因素的共同影响,土壤类型、成土母质、海拔、土地利用、气候和坡度6个环境因子对全区土壤有机质含量变异的综合解释能力为47.9%。其中,土壤类型是最重要的影响因素,能独立解释其变异的36.0%,海拔和成土母质分别能独立解释28.5%和15.8%。气温对广西土壤有机质空间分布的影响比降水量更加显著,从而造成了广西土壤有机质整体呈南低北高的趋势。同时,土壤有机质对气温的敏感性在一定程度上受到降雨量的制约。此外,研究区农业耕作管理等因素对土壤有机质的影响也不容忽视。  相似文献   

秋季连续打捞蓝藻对水-气界面温室气体通量的影响     

荀凡  杜先  陈新芳  刘高飞  齐天赐  冯慕华 《湖泊科学》2020,32(6):1707-1722

在巢湖西北半湖近岸带设置大型围隔研究秋季连续打捞蓝藻对湖泊温室气体通量的影响，应用YL-1000型大型仿生式水面蓝藻清除设备进行原位打捞蓝藻，通过便携式温室气体分析仪-静态箱法对大型围隔内水-气界面CH₄、CO₂通量特征及其影响因素进行观测.结果表明：对比未打捞区，蓝藻连续打捞下打捞区水体中叶绿素a（Chl.a）、悬浮物（SS）浓度不断下降，两者削减率分别为72%、85%，Chl.a、SS浓度分别下降到29.6±2.5 μg/L、12.5±1.2 mg/L，打捞对围隔内颗粒态物质去除效果十分明显；打捞过程中水体溶解性有机物（DOM）中微生物代谢类腐殖质（C1）、类蛋白（C3）显著下降趋势，打捞区C1、C3组分（0.18±0.02、0.06±0.01 RU）强度明显低于未打捞区（0.26±0.05、0.12±0.03 RU），打捞能有效控制藻源性溶解性有机质释放.同时，打捞区水-气界面CH₄通量呈显著下降趋势，未打捞区CH₄通量平均值（17.473±1.514 nmol/（m²·s））为打捞区（7.004±4.163 nmol/（m²·s））近2倍，CH₄通量与Chl.a、C1、C3组分均呈显著正相关，水体中藻源性溶解态有机质对CH₄通量具有促进作用；打捞区CO₂释放通量呈显著上升趋势，打捞区CO₂吸收通量（-0.200±0.069 μmol/（m²·s））明显低于未打捞区（-0.344±0.017 μmol/（m²·s）），CO₂通量与Chl.a、温度均呈显著负相关.秋季打捞对CH₄、CO₂综合日平均通量减排量值为0.275±0.076 mol/（m²·d）（以CO₂当量计）.研究结果揭示了巢湖秋季连续打捞蓝藻过程对水-气界面温室气体具有显著减排作用，且能在一定程度上减缓蓝藻水华与湖泊富营养化、气候变暖之间的恶性循环，为湖泊碳循环和蓝藻水华灾害防控提供科学数据支撑和理论参考.  相似文献   

针铁矿对湖泊草、藻来源可溶有机质的非均质吸附     

章奇  居琪  李健欣  曹驰程  江和龙  张晖 《湖泊科学》2020,32(4):1041-1049

为探究富营养化湖泊中自生源可溶有机质(DOM)在泥水界面的吸附行为,以马来眼子菜(Potamogeton malaianus)和铜绿微囊藻(Microcystis aeruginosa)释放的DOM为代表,考察针铁矿对草、藻源DOM中不同组分的吸附特征.三维荧光平行因子分析表明类富里酸组分C1和类胡敏酸组分C4的含量很低,而类蛋白物质(类酪氨酸组分C2和类色氨酸组分C3)分别占草、藻源DOM荧光组成的70%和93%. 2种DOM均可被针铁矿吸附,吸附过程符合伪一级动力学.通过等温线拟合发现针铁矿吸附藻源DOM的非线性更强,饱和吸附量(23.77 mg/g)高于草源DOM(19.10 mg/g).特别地,类蛋白组分呈现非线性吸附,而类腐殖物质的吸附近似线性,且针铁矿对于DOM各荧光组分的吸附量顺序为:C3C2 C4 C1,此非均质吸附特征与DOM组分的初始含量、分子大小、芳香性及有效吸附位点有关.红外光谱证实氨基、羧基和羟基是吸附过程中的重要官能团.因此,草、藻源DOM显著改变了针铁矿表面的有机物质组成,影响湖泊沉积物的生物地球化学行为.  相似文献   

Drying increases organic colloidal mobilization in the karst vadose zone: Evidence from a 15-year cave-monitoring study     

Jin Liao  Chaoyong Hu  Xiuli Li  Jiaoyang Ruan 《水文研究》2021,35(4):e14163

Understanding the hydrological processes of colloids within the karst vadose zone is vital to the security of karst groundwater and providing appropriate paleohydrological explanations of colloid-facilitated metals in speleothem. This study addresses the mobilization mechanisms driving colloidal organic matter (COM) transport in the karst vadose zone using a 15-year long monthly monitoring dataset from a cave drip point (HS4) in Heshang Cave, Qingjiang Valley, China. Variations in COM concentrations were reported as the fluorescence difference values of raw and filtered (<0.22 μm) samples at an excitation wavelength of 320 nm and emission wavelength of ~400 nm. A fluorescence humification index (HIX) lower than 0.8 and an autochthonous index (BIX) higher than 1.2 indicated that the origin of COM was mainly from the karst vadose zone, rather than the soil zone. The COM concentration varied from 0.001 to 0.038 Raman Unit (RU), with evident seasonal fluctuations. Rising limbs for COM values occurred prior to rising limbs within a dripwater hydrograph; moreover, the COM peak values corresponding to the beginning of the increasing hydrograph generally suggested that the mobilization of COM reflected the movement of the air–water interface (AWI) in the karst vadose zone rather than rainfall intensity or flow velocity. COM peak values were positively correlated with the antecedent drying duration and negatively correlated with HIX values. These phenomena may be explained by the increased amount of organic matter that was aggregated and absorbed on the surface of carbonate in the karst vadose zone during a longer drying duration. Moreover, the longer drying duration was also beneficial to autochthonous biological activity, which subsequently decreased the HIX value of the organic matter in the karst vadose zone. The movement of AWI and the drying duration are both controlled by the outside weather conditions. This study is therefore conducive to evaluating the security of karst groundwater in response to climate change, and challenges prevailing paleoclimate interpretations of colloid-facilitated metal abundance timeseries reported from speleothems.  相似文献   

Orbital control on cyclical organic matter accumulation in Early Silurian Longmaxi Formation shales     

Siding Jin  Hucheng Deng  Xing Zhu  Yan Liu  Sibing Liu  Meiyan Fu 《地学前缘(英文版)》2020,(2):533-545

High resolution(939 samples)total organic carbon content(TOC)analyses were conducted on the Shuanghe Section of^152.6 m in the Changning area,Sichuan Basin.The sampling section was divided into two units considering the distinct-different deposit environment and sediments accumulation rate.The lower part(Unit 1)and the peer part(Unit 2)with high resolution sample spacing(0.08–0.4 m)enables the identification of the precession cycle in two sedimentary sequences with distinct different sedimentary accumulation rate.MTM Power spectral analyses on untuned TOC series reveals significant peaks exceeding above the 95%confidence level and shows that both Unit 1 and Unit 2 have recorded Milankovitch cycles of 405 kyr long eccentricity,short eccentricity,obliquity and precession.The floating astronomical time scale(ATS)was constructed on the Shuanghe Section in the Early Silurian(~439.673–444.681 Ma),and which was calibrated by 405 kyr long eccentricity cycles.The total duration of the Wufeng and Longmaxi shales is 5.01 Myr.The floating ATS used for estimating the duration of the graptolite zones and each stage in the study interval.Finally,we postulated two models that could verify the linkage between orbital cycle and organic accumulation.To make sure whether productivity or preservation is the main factor that under long eccentricity control,the phase correlation between the obtained filtered signal and the theoretical orbital solution should be made clear in the further research.  相似文献   

Microstructure Evolution of Organic Matter and Clay Minerals in Shales with Increasing Thermal Maturity     

GU Yuantao  LI Xiaoxi  YANG Shuguang  WAN Quan 《《地质学报》英文版》2020,94(2):280-289

As the two important components of shale, organic matter(OM) and clay minerals are usually thought to strongly influence the hydrocarbon generation, enrichment and exploitation. The evolution process of OM and clay minerals as well as their interrelationship over a wide range of thermal maturities are not completely clear. Taking Yanchang(T_3y), Longmaxi(S_1l) and Niutitang(?_1n) shales as examples, we have studied the microstructure characteristics of OM and clay minerals in shales with different thermal maturities. The effects of clay minerals and OM on pores were reinforced through sedimentation experiments. Using a combination of field emission scanning electron microscopy(FESEM) and low-pressure N_2 adsorption, we investigated the microstructure differences among the three shales. The results showed that both OM and clay minerals have strong effects on pores, and small mesopore(2–20 nm) is the dominant pore component for all three samples. However, the differences between the three samples are embodied in the distribution of pore size and the location. For the T_3y shale, clay minerals are loosely arranged and develop large amounts of pores, and fine OM grains often fill in intergranular minerals or fractures. Widespread OM pores distribute irregularly in S_1l shale, and most of the pores are elliptical and nondirectional. The ?_1n shale is characterized by the preferred orientational OM-clay aggregates, and lots of pores in the composites are in the mesopore range, suggesting that over maturity lead to the collapse and compaction of pores under huge pressure of strata. The results of the current research imply that with increasing thermal maturity, OM pores are absent at low maturity(T_3y), are maximized at high maturity(S_1l) and are destroyed or compacted at over-mature stage(?_1n). Meanwhile, clay minerals have gone through mineral transformation and orientational evolution. The interaction of the two processes makes a significant difference to the microstructure evolution of OM and clay minerals in shale, and the findings provide scientific foundation in better understanding diagenetic evolution and hydrocarbon generation of shale.  相似文献   

Advances in Glycerol Dialkyl Glycerol Tetraethers and Long-Chain Alkyl Diols in the Marine Sediments: Implications for Paleoclimatic and Paleoenvironmental Changes     

Lilei Chen  Feng Li  Jian Liu 《地球科学进展》2019,34(8):855-867

Lipid biomarkers widely dotted in marine sediments, as their distribution characteristics accurately record huge information on the metabolism of the original organisms and migration and transformation of these organic components, are often used to reconstruct the paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental conditions. This paper reviewed the progress in the study of paleoclimatic-environmental changes during the late Quaternary using abundant core lipids Glycerol Dialkyl Glyceryl Tetraethers (GDGTs) and long-chain alkyl diols in marginal sea sediments. It is pointed out that clarifying the “source-sink” process of lipid biomarkers buried in marine sediments is a prerequisite for paleoclimatic-environmental reconstruction. It is believed that the use of multiple indicators that are less affected by early diagenesis can increase the accuracy of reconstructing paleoclimatic changes. In the large-river dominated marginal seas, the mechanism of land-sea climate coupling evolution stimulated by the paleoclimatic-environmental changes can be elucidated based on paleoclimatic records reconstructed from core lipids GDGTs and long-chain alkyl diols in marine sediments. It is hoped that this paper can provide reliable technical means and a solid theoretical basis for predicting future temperature and rainfall changes.  相似文献   

Dissolved organic matter in surface runoff in the Loess Plateau of China: The role of rainfall events and land-use     

Zhongwu Li  Hao Peng  Binggeng Xie  Chun Liu  Xiaodong Nie  Danyang Wang  Mei Huang  Haibing Xiao  Lin Shi  Xuqin Zhang  Jieyu Jiang 《水文研究》2020,34(6):1446-1459

Exploring the chemical characterization of dissolved organic matter (DOM) is important for understanding the fate of laterally transported organic matter in watersheds. We hypothesized that differences in water-extractable organic matter (WEOM) in soils of varying land uses and rainfall events may significantly affect the quality and the quantity of stream DOM. To test our hypotheses, characteristics of rainfall-runoff DOM and WEOM of source materials (topsoil from different land uses and gullies, as well as typical vegetation) were investigated at two adjacent catchments in the Loess Plateau of China, using ultraviolet–visible absorbance and excitation emission matrix fluorescence with parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC). Results indicated that land-use types may significantly affect the chemical composition of soil WEOM, including its aromaticity, molecular weight, and degree of humification. The PARAFAC analysis demonstrated that the soils and stream water were dominated by terrestrial/allochthonous humic-like substances and microbial transformable humic-like fluorophores. Shifts in the fluorescence properties of stream DOM suggested a pronounced change in the relative proportion of allochthonous versus autochthonous material under different rainfall patterns and land uses. For example, high proportions of forestland could provide more allochthonous DOM input. This study highlights the relevance of soils and hydrological dynamics on the composition and fluxes of DOM issuing from watersheds. The composition of DOM in soils was influenced by land-use type. Precipitation patterns influenced the proportion of terrestrial versus microbial origins of DOM in surface runoff. Contributions of allochthonous, terrestrially derived DOM inputs were highest from forested landscapes.  相似文献   

1980—2015年风蚀影响下中国北方土壤有机质与养分流失时空特征     

赵海鹏  宋宏权  刘鹏飞  李霄阳  王团徽 《地理研究》2019,38(11):2778-2789

中国北方干旱/半干旱区是全球主要的沙尘源区之一,风蚀造成的沙尘排放可导致大量的土壤有机质（SOM）与养分流失,并通过传输与沉降过程对其进行空间再分配,对空气质量、气候变化、植被生长及生物地球化学过程等具有重要影响。本文利用WRF/Chem（Weather Research Forecasting with Chemistry）v3.7.1大气化学传输模型,对1980—2015年间中国北方沙尘排放及其引起的SOM、全氮（TN）与全磷（TP）的时空变化过程进行了精细化模拟,探究了中国北方风蚀引起的SOM、TN与TP养分流失的时空变化特征。结果表明：① 1980—2015年来平均每年约有66.59 Tg的沙尘颗粒排放至大气;② 沙尘排放具有较大的时空差异,沙尘排放源区主要集中在新疆东部、内蒙古西部的巴丹吉林沙漠和腾格里沙漠等地区;③ 每年因沙尘排放引起的SOM、TN和TP流失量分别约为0.07 Tg、0.004 Tg和0.005 Tg;④ 1980—2015年间中国北方沙尘排放及其引起的SOM、TN与TP的流失量具有较强的年际波动,未呈现显著的趋势性变化特征。本研究对于认知风蚀在碳循环与养分循环过程中的作用,以及对深入了解中国北方的土地退化机理具有重要意义。  相似文献