Geochemistry of Thermal Waters of Continental Margin of Far East of Russia

Studied waters belong to warm （T=30-50℃）, alkaline （pH=8.9-9.3）, low mineralized （TDS〈235 mg/l） Na-HCO3 or Na-SO4-HCO3 thermal waters with high content of SiO2 （up to 81 mg/1） and F （up to 3.9 mg/l）, occur on modern volcano-tectonic rejuvenated areas of Eastern Sikhote-Alin orogenic belt. Low 3He concentration as well as N2/O2 and N2/Ar ratios exclude influence of deep mantle fluid. New rare earth element data constrain our understanding of water-rock interaction occurring in the water source region. Meteoric origin of waters is proved by stable isotope values varying from -71%o to -136.1‰ and from -10.8‰ to -18.8%o for δ^2H and δ^18O respectively. REE patterns reflect high pH, resultfing from water-rock interaction and oxidative conditions. Calculations of deep aquifer temperature using Na-K and quartz geothermometers show 116.8-131.1℃ and 82.2-125.8℃ respectively. Presence of deep faults both with abnormal thermal gradient （-45- 50 K/km） define unique geochemical shape of thermal waters of Sikhote-Alin, area, where no present volcanic activity is registered.

Influence factors and variation characteristics of water vapor absorption by soil in semi-arid region

The adsorption of water vapor by soil is one of the crucial contributors to non-rainfall water on land surface, particularly over semi-arid regions where its contribution can be equivalent to precipitation and can have a major impact on dry agriculture and the ecological environment in these regions. However, due to difficulties in the observation of the adsorption of water vapor,research in this area is limited. This study focused on establishing a method for estimating the quantitative observation of soil water vapor adsorption(WVA), and exploring the effects of meteorological elements(e.g., wind, temperature, and humidity) and soil environmental elements(e.g., soil temperature, soil moisture, and the available energy of soil) on WVA by soil over the semi-arid region, Dingxi, by combining use of the L-G large-scale weighing lysimeter and meteorological observation. In addition, this study also analyzed the diurnal and annual variations of WVA amount, frequency, and intensity by soil, how they changed with weather conditions, and the contribution of WVA by soil to the land surface water budget. Results showed that WVA by soil was co-affected by various meteorological and soil environmental elements, which were more likely to occur under conditions of relative humidity of 6.50% and the diurnal variation of relative humidity was large, inversion humidity, wind velocity of 3.4 m/s,lower soil water content, low surface temperature and slightly unstable atmospheric conditions. There was a negative feedback loop between soil moisture and the adsorption of water vapor, and, moreover, the diurnal and annual variations of WVA amount and frequency were evident—WVA by soil mainly occurred in the afternoon, and the annual peak appeared in December and the valley in June, with obvious regional characteristics. Furthermore, the contribution of WVA by soil to the land surface water budget obviously exceeded that of precipitation in the dry season.

Chemical characteristics of PM_(2.5) during haze episodes in the urban of Fuzhou,China

Atmospheric fine particles （PM2.5） were collected in this study with middle volume samplers in Fuzhou, China, during both normal days and haze days in summer （September 2007） and winter （january 2008）. The concentrations, distributions, and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons （PAHs）, organic carbon （OC）, elemental carbon （EC）, and water soluble inorganic ions （WSIls） were determinated. The results showed that the concentrations of PM2.s, PAHs, OC, EC, and WSIIs were in the orders of haze 〉 normal and winter〉 summer. The dominant PAHs of PM2.s in Fuzhou were Fluo, Pyr, Chr, BbF, BkF, BaP, BghiP, and IcdP, which represented about 80.0% of the total PAHs during different sampling periods. The BaPeq concentrations of ^-~PAHs were 0.78, 0.99, 1.22, and 2.43 ng/m3 in summer normal, summer haze, winter normal, and winter haze, respectively. Secondary pollutants （SO42 , NO3 , NH4＊, and OC） were the major chemical compositions of PM2.5, accounting for 69.0%, 55.1%, 63.4%, and 64.9% of PM2.s mass in summer normal, summer haze, winter normal, and winter haze, respectively. Correspondingly, secondary organic carbon （SOC） in Fuzhou accounted for 20.1%, 48.6%, 24.5%, and 50.5% of OC. The average values of nitrogen oxidation ratio （NOR） and sulfur oxidation ratio （SOR） were higher in haze days （0.08 and 0.27） than in normal days （0.05 and 0.22）. Higher OC/EC ratios were also found in haze days （5.0） than in normal days （3.3）. Correlation analysis demonstrated that visibility had positive correlations with wind speed, and neg- ative correlations with relative humidity and major air pollutants. Overall, the enrichments of PM2.5, OC, EC, SO42 ,andNO3 promoted haze formation. Furthermore, the diagnostic ratios of IcdP/（IcdP ＋ BghiP）, lcdP/BghiP, OC/EC, and NO3 /SO42 indicated that vehicle exhaust and coal consumption were the main sources of pollutants in Fuzhou.

Oxidative capacities of size-segregated haze particles in a residential area of Beijing

The frequent haze days around the Chinese capital of Beijing in recent years have aroused great attention owing to the detrimental effects on visibility and public health. To discover the potential health effects of the haze, oxidative capacities of airborne particles collected in Beijing during haze and clear days were comparably assessed by a plasmid scission assay. Eleven water-soluble trace elements （As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, V, Se, T1, and Zn） in the size-segregated airborne particles were quantitatively analyzed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and most of the water- soluble trace elements were found to mainly concentrate in the fine particle size of 0.56-1.0 μm. In comparison with clear days, the mass concentrations of 11 analyzed water-soluble trace elements remarkably increased during haze days, and the oxidative capacities determined by the plasmid scission assay were markedly elevated accordingly during the haze days under the same dosage of particles as for those during clear days. Water-soluble trace elements in airborne particles, such as Cu, V, and particularly Zn, were found to have significantly positive correlations with the plasmid DNA damage rates. Because Cu, V, and Zn have been considered as bioavailable elements, the evident increase of these elements during haze days may be greatly harmful to human health.

Entrapment of brown seaweeds(Turbinaria conoides and Sargassum wightii) in polysulfone matrices for the removal of praseodymium ions from aqueous solutions

The aim of the present investigation was to study the potential of two brown seaweeds（Sargassum wightii and Turbinaria conoides） to remove praseodymium ions from solutions. Due to swelling problems, the seaweed biomasses were also immobilized using polysulfone matrices which amplified hydraulic conductivity more than 7.1 times. At optimum pH of 5, maximum Pr（III） uptakes of 131.4, 146.4, 111.2 and 119.5 mg/g were observed for free-S. wightii, free-T. conoides, polysulfone immobilized S. wightii（PISW） and polysulfone immobilized T. conoides（PITC）, respectively. Experimental biosorption isotherms were successfully described using the Langmuir, Freundlich and Sips model. Owing to intraparticle diffusion, rate of Pr（III） sorption by immobilized biosorbents was slow and equilibrium attainment took 240 min compared to only 90 min by free biomasses. However, regeneration of seaweed biomasses for repeated sorption application was only possible with immobilization biosorbents. With 0.1 mol/L HCl as elutant, both PITC and PISW exhibited invariable Pr（III） uptake capacity and very high mechanical stability over 10 sorption-desorption cycles.