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Thermal analysis of whole soils and sediment.

Thermal analysis techniques were utilized to investigate the thermal properties of two soils and a lignite coal obtained from the International Humic Substances Society (IHSS), and sediment obtained from The Netherlands. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) revealed glass transition behavior of each sample at temperatures ranging from 52 degrees C for Pahokee peat (euic, hyperthermic Lithic Medisaprists), 55 degrees C for a Netherlands (B8) sediment, 64 degrees C for Elliott loam (fine, illitic, mesic Aquic Arguidolls), to 70 degrees C for Gascoyne leonardite. Temperature-modulated differential scanning calorimetry (TMDSC) revealed glass transition behavior at similar temperatures, and quantified constant-pressure specific heat capacity (Cp) at 0 degrees C from 0.6 J g(-1) degrees C(-1) for Elliott loam and 0.8 J g(-1) degrees C(-1) for the leonardite, to 1.0 J g(-1) degrees C(-1) for the peat and the sediment. Glass transition behavior showed no distinct correlation to elemental composition, although Gascoyne Leonardite and Pahokee peat each demonstrated glass transition behavior similar to that reported for humic acids derived from these materials. Thermomechanical analysis (TMA) revealed a large thermal expansion followed by a matrix collapse for each sample between 20 and 30 degrees C, suggesting the occurrence of transition behavior of unknown origin. Thermal transitions occurring at higher temperatures more representative of glass transition behavior were revealed for the sediment and the peat.

Calorimetry, Differential Scanning↗

Temporal and spatial distributions of sediment total organic carbon in an estuary river.

Understanding temporal and spatial distributions of naturally occurring total organic carbon (TOC) in sediments is critical because TOC is an important feature of surface water quality. This study investigated temporal and spatial distributions of sediment TOC and its relationships to sediment contaminants in the Cedar and Ortega Rivers, Florida, USA, using three-dimensional kriging analysis and field measurement. Analysis of field data showed that large temporal changes in sediment TOC concentrations occurred in the rivers, which reflected changes in the characteristics and magnitude of inputs into the rivers during approximately the last 100 yr. The average concentration of TOC in sediments from the Cedar and Ortega Rivers was 12.7% with a maximum of 22.6% and a minimum of 2.3%. In general, more TOC accumulated at the upper 1.0 m of the sediment in the southern part of the Ortega River although the TOC sedimentation varied with locations and depths. In contrast, high concentrations of sediment contaminants, that is, total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), were found in sediments from the Cedar River. There was no correlation between TOC and PAHs or PCBs in these river sediments. This finding is in contradiction to some other studies which reported that the sorption of hydrocarbons is highly related to the organic matter content of sediments. This discrepancy occurred because of the differences in TOC and hydrocarbon source input locations. It was found that more TOC loaded into the southern part of the Ortega River, while almost all of the hydrocarbons entered into the Cedar River. This study suggested that the locations of their input sources as well as the land use patterns should also be considered when relating hydrocarbons to sediment TOC.

Carbon↗

Influence of primary sedimentation on pre-denitrification system performances.

The effects of suppressing primary sedimentation on nitrogen removal efficiency of a pre-denitrification system have been evaluated for a large municipal wastewater treatment plant. Simulations have been carried out using the STOAT model. For both the process schemes with and without primary sedimentation, nitrification efficiencies are calculated for increasing influent loads of COD, total N and suspended solids. The sensitivity analysis shows that for the usual carbon to nitrogen ratios in the raw influent both the process schemes allow the requested removal efficiencies, whereas for significantly high C/N ratios the scheme with primary sedimentation is preferable.

Carbon↗

A cautionary note on the use of species presence and absence data in deriving sediment criteria.

In recent years, a variety of approaches to deriving sediment quality guidelines have been developed. One approach relies on establishing an empirical relationship between the concentration of a contaminant in sediment and the condition of some biological indicator, for example, combining measured sediment concentrations of contaminants combined with data on colocated benthic species to measure in situ community effects of contamination. Biological threshold concentrations derived in this manner are being considered or have already been adopted by some regulatory agencies as a means for deriving sediment guidelines (e.g., Canada's Provincial Sediment Quality Guidelines). In order to test the validity of this method, we constructed several Monte Carlo simulations to illustrate that the methodology used to develop these guidelines is flawed by the effects of sampling and statistical artifacts that emerge from undersampling a lognormal density function. As a case study, this paper will present the screening level concentration method used by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (Toronto, ON, Canada) and provide the results of several probabilistic exercises highlighting these issues. We present a word of caution on the applicability of methods that rely exclusively on statistical and mathematical relationships between invertebrate data and sediment concentrations to derive sediment quality guidelines.

Animals↗

[Characteristics of phosphorous losses in surface runoff and sediment under different land use in west Tiaoxi catchment].

Five typical land covers in West Tiaoxi catchment were studied on phosphorous loss in artificial rainstorm runoff. Triple duplication experiments were carried out under the artificial rain condition with intensity of 2 mm.min-1 lasting 32 minutes in 3 m2 plot. Transportation and flux of various species of phosphorous in runoff and sediments were investigated. The results showed that phosphorous losses amount and rate were different among five types of land covers. The loss of total phosphorous in runoff of mulberry garden was the largest, which was five times higher than that of paddy and pinery field. The majority of total phosphorous in runoff was particulate phosphorous. Losses of dissolved phosphorous in vegetable plots and mulberry gardens were much higher than bamboo plot and paddy field. Loss of dissolved inorganic phosphorous in runoff was the main part of dissolved phosphorus, which pinery was much higher than others. Total amounts of phosphorous loss from top 10 cm layer of 5 kinds of soils were estimated as high as 2.57-4.89 g.m-2, of which phosphorous loss through sediment of runoff accounted for more than 97%. The rate of total phosphorous losses were ranged in 0.45-4.11 mg.(m2.min)-1 in runoff, which was much lower than that of 72.82-135.96 mg.(m2.min)-1 in sediment of runoff.

China↗

Aerobic heterotrophic bacterial diversity in sediments of Rajakkamangalam estuary, south west coast of India.

The abundance of aerobic heterotrophic bacterial population in the sediment sample of six experimental stations (S1 to S6) at Rajakkamangalam estuary was studied for a period of one year from March, 1998 to February, 1999. The important bacterial genera encountered were Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Vibrio, Escherichia, Micrococcus, Enterobacter, Salmonella, Aeromonas, Shigella, Klebsiella, Proteus, Alkaligenes, Staphylococcus, Citrobacter and Flavobacterium. The bacterial population based on numerical counts showed wide fluctuations in their distribution at different stations. Among the bacterial genera Pseuaomonas was found to be the dominant genus during the experimental period. The qualitative and quantitative distribution of microflora in the sediment samples are discussed.

Bacteria, Aerobic↗