twenty first century warming of a large antarctic ice shelf cavity by a redirected coastal current the redirection of warm water under the filchner ronne ice shelf during the second half of this century could cause the ice shelf base to melt at a rate 20 times higher than at present warm ocean currents are known to erode ice shelves from below but changes in currents can be forced by many different mechanisms leading to uncertain outcomes this study highlights the vulnerability to climate change of a small antarctic coastal region which has potentially severe consequences for the mass balance of a large antarctic ice shelf hellmer et al use climate modelling to show that the projected loss of sea ice in the weddell sea east of the antarctic peninsula leads to an increase in wind stress which in turn accelerates a warm ocean current far underneath the vast filchner ronne ice shelf the authors predict that the increased warmth could increase melt by a factor of 20 with possible consequences for ice stream dynamics in the east antarctic ice sheet the antarctic ice sheet loses mass at its fringes bordering the southern ocean at this boundary warm circumpolar water can override the continental slope front reaching the grounding line1 2 through submarine glacial troughs and causing high rates of melting at the deep ice shelf bases3 4 the interplay between ocean currents and continental bathymetry is therefore likely to influence future rates of ice mass loss here we show that a redirection of the coastal current into the filchner trough and underneath the filchner ronne ice shelf during the second half of the twenty first century would lead to increased movement of warm waters into the deep southern ice shelf cavity water temperatures in the cavity would increase by more than 2 degrees celsius and boost average basal melting from 0 2 metres or 82 billion tonnes per year to almost 4 metres or 1 600 billion tonnes per year our results which are based on the output of a coupled ice ocean model forced by a range of atmospheric outputs from the hadcm35 climate model suggest that the changes would be caused primarily by an increase in ocean surface stress in the southeastern weddell sea due to thinning of the formerly consolidated sea ice cover the projected ice loss at the base of the filchner ronne ice shelf represents 80 per cent of the present antarctic surface mass balance6 thus the quantification of basal mass loss under changing climate conditions is important for projections regarding the dynamics of antarctic ice streams and ice shelves and global sea level rise

impact of underground coal fire on coal petrographic properties of high volatile bituminous coals a case study from coal fire zone no 3 2 in the wuda coalfield inner mongolia autonomous region north china abstract the wuda coalfield located in the inner mongolia autonomous region north china is known as one of china s major source of prime coking coals and a site of well researched and well documented underground coal fires the underground coal fire at the coal fire zone no 3 2 is situated in the active coal mine of suhai tu located in the north westerly part of the wuda coalfield the present paper investigates the impact of the underground coal fire on the coal seam no 10 by application of coal petrographic methods including detailed characteristic of macerals and other coal components maceral analysis microstructural analysis and vitrinite reflectances performed on 1 coal grains lacking impurities microfractures dark oxidation rims 2 on dark rimmed vitrinite as well as 3 on low temperature semi coke the investigated coal seam no 10 represents a high volatile a bituminous coal and is dominated by vitrinite followed by inertinite with minor amounts of liptinite and by non isotropic low temperature semi coke the microstructure of the oxidatively and thermally altered coals is represented by 1 extensive non tectonic microfissures and non tectonic microfractures i e shrinkage microfractures leading to defragmentation of coal grains 2 dark oxidation rims observed at grain margins non tectonic microfissures and microfractures and by 3 devolatilisation micropores random vitrinite reflectances measured in 1 coal grains lacking impurities microfractures and dark oxidation rims and in 2 dark rimmed vitrinite at non tectonic microfissures and fractures reveal significant lateral variations the presence of low temperature semi coke and its marked lower reflectance values are indicative of thermal alteration induced by the underground coal fire in the coal fire zone no 3 2 the results obtained from the performed analyses of organic matter point to both low temperature oxidation and low temperature pyrolysis processes the applied coal petrological approach revealed characteristic changes to the coal s microstructure its petrographic composition as well as to optical properties induced by the underground coal fire

effect of coal mining activities on the environment of tetraena mongolica in wuhai inner mongolia china a geochemical perspective abstract the main objective of this study is to investigate the geochemical impact of gob piles on the environment of tetraena mongolica a chinese nationally protected plant twenty five major and trace elements in samples of soil gangue roof and floor of coal seams collected from wuhai inner mongolia china were analyzed by atomic fluorescence spectrometry afs x ray fluorescence xrf and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry icp ms the results show that the elements such as cu pb mo and as were highly enriched in soil coal and coal gangue between 2003 and 2012 heavy metal concentrations had increased in soil due to mining activities leaching and volatilization are the two main pathways that gob piles affect the environment with the leaching range of the gob piles extending about 0 10 m while the range for volatilization is 3 5 km the concentration of cu pb mo and as in t mongolica also shows a positive correlation with the elemental compositions of the roof and floor of the coal seam and adult individuals have a higher correlation than juveniles therefore the distribution of coal resources and the local geology contribute to the restricted range of t mongolica in wuhai

divnogorie pedolithocomplex of the russian plain latest pleistocene deposits and environments based on study of the divnogorie 9 geoarchaeological site middle reaches of the don river abstract latest pleistocene fossil soils and deposits have been described in the geoarchaeological site divnogorie 9 the middle don drainage basin under the name of divnogorie pedolithocomplex for the first time a soil sediment series with 2 3 levels of soil formation has been described in the forest steppe of the russian plain and dated to the bolling allerod interval bo al that was the last soil formation of pre holocene time the soils are weakly developed immature of meadow and burozem genesis they formed for a few hundreds of years in periglacial steppe environments under forest steppe vegetation the lower soil attributed to bolling is dated at 13 5 14 ka cal bp and defined as a weakly developed petrocalcic skeletic colluvic siltic chernozem under coniferous broadleaf forests the middle soil is described as umric calcaric colluvic siltic leptosol and dated at dryas 2 the uppermost soil dated at allerod is weakly developed skeletic calcaric colluvic siltic cambisol formed under coniferous broadleaf forest steppe the data obtained made possible reconstructions of the late glacial climates and landscapes the underlying sediments are the deposits of divnogorie paleo lake the deposits include seven bone bearing horizons with late upper palaeolithic lithic tools they are dated to the interval 17 14 ka cal bp

leaching experiments to study the release of trace elements from mineral separates from chinese coals abstract leaching experiments were carried out for two samples of mineral separates from chinese coals for the purpose to simulate the release of trace elements in acid mine drainage the leaching solution has a ferric ion concentration of 10 3 m ph 2 the experiments were carried out at room temperature the grain size of the mineral separates is 75 130 m the behavior of the release of eight trace elements co ni zn cd al cr as and pb were measured during the period of 312h the results from four leaching tests using two samples with two solid to liquid ratios show that the concentrations of co ni zn and cd continuously increased during the leaching period and they were correlated with the sulfate content in the same leachate this indicates that the elements were released during the oxidation and dissolution of pyrite the elements were easily dissolved in the leaching solution on the other hand the concentrations of al cr as and pb in the leachates varied considerably under same leaching conditions and were sensitive to the condition of the leachate during the leaching process the release of these four elements was affected by the ph of the leachate and by absorption and co precipitation they are less likely to migrate therefore the release and migration of the eight elements in acid coal mine drainage are controlled mainly by three factors the oxidation of pyrite the ph of the leachate and mineralogy of country rocks

geochemical and mineralogical characteristics of a power station feed coal eggborough england abstract chemical and mineralogical analyses are presented for a power station feed coal in the yorkshire coalfield u k the mineralogy of the whole coal consists of quartz kaolinite illite mixed layer clay chlorite pyrite and carbonates pyrite carbonates and some of the kaolinite are diagenetic in separated low density fractions of the coal both pyrite and kaolinite are concentrated relative to the detrital minerals compared with the high density fractions the detrital clay mineralogy of these low density fractions contains less chlorite and the mixed layer clay to illite ratio is higher which is consistent with a grain size control during sedimentation the major element analyses are comparable with mudrocks in the stratigraphic sequence but there is evidence of na 2 o enrichment related to connate brinnes and the fe 2 o 3 content shows significant enrichment particularly in the ashes of the low density fractions the dissolution of oxhydroxide grain coatings associated with detrital sediment in the coal and also in the adjacent strata are probable sources of the iron in the diagenetic pyrite there is evidence of iron mobility in the sedimentary sequence and introduction into the coal itself during diagenesis within the coal trace elements are also enriched on an ash basis relative to the mudrocks and their origin is also probably very similar to that of iron a noteworthy feature of the trace element enrichment is that the enrichment factors for a number of elements are comparable with those determined for marine black shales in the sequence this suggests a common origin for the elements during the diagenetic processes analysis of the coal density fractions after correcting for detrital mineralogy suggests pb cu ni zn and possibly mn are associated with pyrite and v sr ba zr and nb are either directly or indirectly associated with organic components possibly zr and nb originate from dispersed volcanic ash

long term development of holocene and pleistocene gullies in the protva river basin central russia abstract the specific geomorphic structure a combination of flat or gentle watersheds with short steep valley sides and the high resistance of surface material in the case study area in the centre of the russian plain are responsible for the specific pattern of holocene erosion no or minor sheet erosion the occasional appearance of new gullies on the valley sides four out of 19 studied and a concentration of erosion activity in old gullies that had existed since pre holocene times 15 out of 19 studied the erosion activity is studied using radiocarbon dating of gully sediments summed probability density distribution spdd of 65 radiocarbon dates is applied to detect changes of erosion rates over the last five millennia three millennium scale phases of erosion activity are distinguished phase 1 1200 years bp to the present intensive erosion phase 2 2800 to 1200 years bp weak erosion and phase 3 4800 to 2800 years bp intensive erosion short episodes or single events of relatively strong erosion have been found at around 4700 3800 3000 2200 1800 and 900 years bp erosion during phase 3 coincided with the holocene lowest population density in the whole region and the start of phase 1 coincided with a population gap at the case study area which suggests other than anthropogenic causes for changing erosion regimes these may be climatic factors because changes between millennium scale phases of erosion activity coincide with pronounced climatic changes the subboreal subatlantic transition and the start of the medieval warm period however a direct correlation between erosion activity and climatic parameters warmer cooler wetter drier has not been found presumably because the available palaeoclimatic reconstructions do not contain enough information on changing frequencies and magnitudes of hydrological extremes according to population dynamics charcoal frequency in erosion derived sediments and pollen data a human impact on erosion is suggested to have occurred from the 11th century ad and more confidently from the 14th 16th centuries this contributed to erosion acceleration that began some two centuries earlier apparently for climatic reasons

holocene rhythms of soil formation and sedimentation in the central russian upland abstract for the first time the rhythms of soil formation and accumulation of sediments in holocene in the central russian upland were determined on the basis of radiocarbon analysis of slope balka and floodplain soils and deposits buried paleosols of different ages were distinguished early atlantic pd5 7600 6700 yr bp late atlantic pd4 6180 4800 yr bp subboreal pd3 4150 3000 yr bp subatlantic pd2 2380 1050 yr bp buried allerod preboreal and boreal paleosols and modern 200 yr old soil on newly deposited sediments were studied the paleosols were formed within long more than 1200 yr phases of geomorphological stability and buried in transitional accumulative landscapes alluvial proluvial deluvial and other holocene deposits were accumulated within shorter phases of morpholithogenesis these pedogenetic and morpholithogenetic phases follow a 1850 yr cycle

sulfur in coals a review of geochemistry and origins geochemical studies of sulfur in coals comprise several major aspects relating to the nature and origin of sulfur in coals including the abundance and distribution of sulfur in coal seams abundance of sulfur in coal lithotypes and macerals characteristics and geochemical significance of sulfur containing organic compounds sulfur isotopic studies relating to the sources of sulfur in coals and sedimentary environments controlling the geochemistry of sulfur in coal a review of the evidence suggests that the variation of sulfur in coals is closely related to the depositional environments of coal seams for low sulfur coal 1 s sulfur is derived primarily from parent plant material for medium sulfur 1 to 3 s and high sulfur 3 s coals there are two major sources of sulfur 1 parent plant material and 2 sulfate in seawater that flooded peat swamps abundances of sulfur in coal are largely controlled by the degree of seawater influence during peat accumulation and by postdepositional changes diagenesis in high sulfur coals seawater sulfate diffuses into the peat which is subsequently reduced by bacteria into hydrogen sulfide polysulfides and elemental sulfur reaction of hydrogen sulfide with ferrous iron generates fine pyrite crystals and mackinawite fes0 9 mackinawite reacts with elemental sulfur to converts to greigite fe3s4 and then to framboidal pyrite the reduced sulfur species in the peat hydrogen sulfide elemental sulfur and polysulfides react with the organic matter to form organic sulfur compounds during coal diagenesis nodular pyrite forms permineralized peat was formed during diagenesis which contains appreciable fraction of pyrite after coal is solidified pyrite can deposit in the cleats from circulating groundwater epigenetic pyrite veins may be deposited from basinal fluids thus pyrite forms during various stages of coal formation from peat to coal as well as late epigenetic activity the relationships between sulfur abundance in coal seams and depositional environments of coals were reviewed for cases from the u s china u k germany hungary turkey indonesia and brazil in most cases low sulfur coals formed in a fluvial environment and high sulfur coals were deposited in seawater influenced environments there are exceptions for example turkish lignites formed in freshwater environments are high sulfur sulfur sources other than seawater are needed for these high sulfur coals the superhigh organic sulfur shos coals are highly enriched in organic sulfur but depleted in pyritic sulfur the shos coals were deposited in sulfur rich iron poor environments such as carbonate platforms or in an iron poor and clastic starved environment in which algae accumulate speciation of organic sulfur compounds in coal appears to be related to coal rank thiophenic compounds are more abundant in bituminous coal and anthracite than in low rank coals

a first description of the antarctic peninsula coastal current abstract we present hydrographic and shipboard adcp data collected during the fall april june and winter july august and moored velocity observations collected from 2001 to early 2002 on the west antarctic peninsula wap shelf during the southern ocean global ecosystems dynamics so globec program in fall a geostrophically balanced buoyant current flows southward along the coast this antarctic peninsula coastal current apcc forms during the ice free season and extends from adelaide island to alexander island although its path inside marguerite bay is uncertain during the fall of 2001 the apcc had a volume transport of 0 32 0 13 sv and a freshwater transport relative to a reference salinity of 34 4 of 126 50 km 3 yr 1 from early july to late october the apcc disappears from the coast as the freshwater input from the coast diminishes and sea ice forms on the shelf an examination of the relative sizes of the freshwater sources suggests runoff from land and precipitation over the ocean are the primary sources for the apcc

distribution of arsenic selenium and other trace elements in high pyrite appalachian coals evidence for multiple episodes of pyrite formation abstract pennsylvanian coals in the appalachian basin host pyrite that is locally enriched in potentially toxic trace elements such as as se hg pb and ni a comparison of pyrite rich coals from northwestern alabama eastern kentucky and west virginia reveals differences in concentrations and mode of occurrence of trace elements in pyrite pyrite occurs as framboids dendrites or in massive crystalline form in cell lumens or crosscutting veins metal concentrations in pyrite vary over all scales from microscopic to mine to regional because trace elements are inhomogeneously distributed in the different morphological forms of pyrite and in the multiple generations of sulfide mineral precipitates early diagenetic framboidal pyrite is usually depleted in as se and hg and enriched in pb and ni compared to other pyrite forms in dendritic pyrite maps of as distribution show a chemical gradient from as rich centers to as poor distal branches whereas se concentrations are highest at the distal edges of the branches massive crystalline pyrite that fills veins is composed of several generations of sulfide minerals pyrite in late stage veins commonly exhibits as rich growth zones indicating a probable epigenetic hydrothermal origin selenium is concentrated at the distal edges of veins a positive correlation of as and se in pyrite veins from kentucky coals and of as and hg in pyrite filled veins from alabama coals suggests coprecipitation of these elements from the same fluid in the kentucky coal samples n 18 as and se contents in pyrite filled veins average 4200 ppm and 200 ppm respectively in alabama coal samples as in pyrite filled veins averages 2700 ppm n 34 whereas as in pyrite filled cellular structures averages 6470 ppm n 35 in these same alabama samples se averages 80 ppm in pyrite filled veins but was below the detection limit in cell structures in samples of west virginia massive pyrite as averages 1700 ppm and se averages 270 ppm n 24 the highest concentration of hg 102 ppm is in alabama pyrite veins improved detailed descriptions of sulfide morphology sulfide mineral paragenesis and trace element concentration and distribution allow more informed predictions of 1 the relative rate of release of trace elements during weathering of pyrite in coals and 2 the relative effectiveness of various coal cleaning procedures of removing pyrite for example trace element rich pyrite has been shown to be more soluble than stoichiometric pyrite and fragile fine grained pyrite forms such as dendrites and framboids are more susceptible to dissolution and disaggregation but less amenable to removal during coal cleaning

distribution of sulfur and pyrite in coal seams from kutai basin east kalimantan indonesia implications for paleoenvironmental conditions abstract thirteen miocene coal samples from three active open pit and underground coal mines in the kutai basin east kalimantan indonesia were collected according to our microscopical and geochemical investigations coal samples from sebulu and centra busang coal mines yield high sulfur and pyrite contents as compared to the embalut coal mine the latter being characterized by very low sulfur

geochemistry and nano mineralogy of two medium sulfur northeast indian coals the petrology mineralogy and inorganic geochemistry of two contrasting high sulfur vitrinite rich subbituminous to bituminous coals from the north eastern region ner of india have been studied using a combination of optical microscopy quantitative x ray diffraction xrd field emission scanning electron microscopy fe sem high resolution transmission electron microscopy hr tem saed and chemical analysis techniques the study reveals that the fe nano particles are present in indian high sulfur tertiary coals including nano pyrite fe oxyhydroxides and a small amount of sphalerite the pyrite is present as framboids and unsymmetrical cubic crystals rhombohedral they contain potentially hazardous elements viz as pb and se measured by eds techniques mineral matter residues isolated from the coals by low temperature oxygen plasma ashing are dominated by carbonate minerals calcite dolomite ankerite pyrite and pyrite oxidation products jarosite and coquimbite kaolinite illite and quartz sulfate bearing phases such as tschermigite bassanite and gypsum are also present probably as artifacts of the plasma ashing process

mineral matter in coals cleat minerals and their origin in some coals from the english midlands abstract in four coal seam profiles from the cannock coalfield west midlands the cleat joint frequency is a function of lithotype greatest in vitarin and is inversely related to bed thickness the cleat minerals were studied 1 under the microscope optical and electron 2 by x ray diffraction and 3 chemically the minerals present are pyrite marcasite sphalerite galena sulphides quartz kaolinite silicates ankerite calcite carbonates and apatite this sequence has features in common with diagenetic sequences recorded in other rock types and it is concluded that the cleat minerals in coal form in response to pore fluid evolution and movement during burial diagenesis the elements are thought to originate from both the coal and the associated sediments mainly mudrocks similarities in diagenetic sequences are in part a reflection of the importance of organic maturation reactions in all the rock types in the sequence whereas differences are attributed to the dominance of these reactions in the coal itself

long term pedolithogenic rhythms in the holocene abstract soil sedimentary series in subordinate accumulative and trans accumulative landscapes represent the most complete and detailed record of the development of soils topographic forms and local geosystems in the holocene a new conception of centuries long rhythms of soil formation and erosion is offered on the basis of literature analysis and original data on 80 pits within the east european plain supplied with 180 radiocarbon dates it is established that the holocene the last 10 500 years comprises seven stages of soil formation alternating with stages of intensive erosion and sediment accumulation 450 950 2300 2700 4200 4700 6300 6600 7700 8100 9500 10 200 bp the intervals of 450 150 1050 2300 2800 4200 4700 6200 6600 7700 8300 9500 and 10 200 10 400 bp correspond to the formation of soils in the geochemically subordinate footslopes gully bottoms floodplains landscapes the erosion lithogenetic stages are characterized by humid warm and cold and also arid cold climatic conditions the pedogenetic stages in subordinate landscapes of the forest steppe and forest zones fall mainly into arid warm and sometimes humid warm and arid cold climatic phases of the 2000 year long rhythm known as the shnitnikov rhythm

distribution isotopic variation and origin of sulfur in coals in the wuda coalfield inner mongolia china abstract this paper describes coal petrographic characteristics sulfur abundance distribution and isotopic signature in coals in the wuda coalfield inner mongolia northern china petrographic studies suggest that depositional environment influences petrographic composition the no 9 and no 10 coal seams which are thought to have formed on a tidal delta plain have high collodetrinite contents up to 66 1 indicating enhanced gelification and bacteria activity during coal accumulation and also have the highest sulfur content 3 46 and 3 42 both organic and pyritic sulfur isotope values 12 3 to 5 8 and 18 7 to 1 1 respectively are variable and generally tend to be more negative in high sulfur coals than those in low sulfur coals in the wuda coalfield the negative sulfur isotope values indicate that a large portion of sulfur in the high sulfur coals has a bacterial origin sulfur isotopic compositions and variations within the section were used to propose a model to explain the origin of sulfur in these coals the presence of pyritized rod like bacteria cyanophyte s gelatinous sheaths and degraded algae organic matter suggests that bacteria and perhaps algae may play an important role in the formation of these high sulfur coals

surface analysis of pyrite in the no 9 coal seam wuda coalfield inner mongolia china using high resolution time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry abstract the chemical composition of pyrite in coal can be used to investigate its geological and mineralogical origin in this paper high resolution time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry tof sims was used to study the chemical composition of various pyrite forms in the no 9 coal seam st d 3 46 from the wuda coalfield inner mongolia northern china these include bacteriogenic framboidal massive cell filling fracture filling and nodular pyrites in addition to fe 54fe 56fe 57fe other fragment ions were detected in bacteriogenic pyrites such as 27al si 28si 29si 30si 40ca cu 63cu 65cu zn 64zn 66zn 67zn 68zn ni 58ni 60ni 62ni and c3h7 tof sims images show bacteriogenic pyrites are relatively rich in cu zn and ni suggesting that bacteria probably play an important role in the enrichment of cu zn and ni during their formation intense positive secondary ion fragments from framboidal aggregates such as 27al 28si 29si alo ch2 c3h3 c3h5 and c4h7 indicate that formation of the framboidal aggregates may have occurred together with clay mineral and organic matter which probably serve as the binding substance the intense ions of 28si and 27al from massive pyrites also suggest that their pores incorporated clay minerals during crystallization together with the lowest 28si 23na value the intense organic positive secondary ion peaks from cell filling pyrites such as c3h3 c3h5 c3h7 and c4h7 indicate that pyrite formation may have accompanied dissolution or disintegration of the cell the intense p peak was observed only in the fracture filling pyrite and the highest 28si 23na value of fracture filling pyrite reflects its epigenetic origin together with xrd and rees data the stronger 40ca in nodular pyrite than other pyrite forms shows seawater influence during its formation

magnitude and chronology of extreme floods in the last 2 ka based on the stratigraphy of a riverine archeological site schurovo settlement middle oka river central european russia

morava river floodplain development during the last millennium stražnicke pomoravi czech republic floodplain sediments deposited along the lower course of the morava river eastern czech 206 pb 207 pb and pop ddt pcb analysis and 137 cs activity data thecu trienmethodwasusedforstratigraphicallycorrelatingthesedepositsbasedonthevariationofexpand able clay minerals in the sediments the resulting stratigraphic pattern reveals the alluvial history of the cur rently active river channel system since the end of the first millennium ad fine overbank clayey sediments deposited during the mediaeval warm period were eroded from cultivated fields newly formed during mediaeval colonization between 1250 and 1450 these fine deposits are overlain by coarser floodplain sedi mentsofthe littleiceage indicatingachangeinthesedimentsourcesincethesixteenthcentury ad anda substantial increase in the sediment load in the second half of twentieth century the straunicke pomoravi floodplaindepositsrepresentavaluablepalaeoenvironmentalarchiveofthelastmillennium containingrecords offluvialprocessesconsiderablyalteredbyhumanactivities

geochemical and palynological investigation of the shengli river marine oil shale china implications for paleoenvironment and paleoclimate abstract the shengli river oil shale located in the north qiangtang depression northern tibet plateau represents a potential large marine oil shale resource in china a geochemical and palynological investigation of the oil shale was performed to reconstruct paleoenvironment and paleoclimate during deposition the total organic carbon toc contents 15 05 20 34 and s 2 values 103 27 129 12 mg hc mg rock of oil shale samples are high and the organic matter consists mainly of type ii kerogen the thermal maturity assessed from pi 0 033 0 036 and t max 433 436 shows an immature to early mature stage of the organic matter analyzed oil shale samples from the shengli river area are characterized by a dominance of low carbon number molecular compositions with high c 21 c 21 2 10 2 83 low pr ph 0 63 0 75 and high concentrations of c 27 sterane and homohopanes c 31 c 35 indicating reducing environments highly saline conditions and a prevalent contribution of algae to organic matter accumulation the analyzed oil shale samples have an uncommonly heavy c isotopic composition ranging in 13 c values of bulk organic matter from 20 79 to 21 78 the enrichment in 13 c is mainly attributed to the high productivity of algae rather than solely the result of hypersalinity composition of palynofloras from oil shale samples suggests that the climate of the qiangtang basin region during the deposition of oil shales was warm and humid or sub humid

buried late holocene luvisols of the oka and moskva river floodplains and their anthropogenic evolution according to soil and pollen data abstract according to radiocarbon dating the ages of the four major soils developed on the floodplains are as follows 1 modern 2 2500 800 cal bp 3 4700 3000 cal bp and 4 7000 5300 cal bp the late holocene soil 2 is usually defined as albeluvisol or luvisol it has a developed profile with clearly expressed argic horizons bt it is markedly different from the underdeveloped soil 1 fluvisol and soil 4 phaeozem or chernozem that have a dark humus mollic chernic horizon soil 2 has a typical light gray color of the humus horizon and is characterized by the accumulation of clay fraction in the bt horizon as compared with the overlying e horizon micromorphological data indicate that the bt horizon has well developed clay films on pore walls and on the surface of aggregates cultural layers belonging to the iron age or early middle ages are sometimes located in soil 2 pollen analysis of this soil attests to its development under forest vegetation which corresponds to the genesis of luvisols and albeluvisols however in some places near ancient settlements characteristic features of the e and bt horizons become weakly pronounced and a well developed dark humus umbric horizon is diagnosed in the soil profiles these soils are marked by the abundance of pollen of herbs including cultivated cereals and weeds this is evidently related to the anthropogenic activity and the propagation of secondary grassy and ruderal vegetation that replaced forests on the floodplains floodplain environments are considered unsuitable for the development of luvisols and albeluvisols within a larger part of the holocene these soils appeared on the floodplains in the late holocene in relation to the propagation of forest vegetation and extremely low floods within a relatively long time

geochemistry of environmentally sensitive trace elements in permian coals from the huainan coalfield anhui china abstract to study the geochemical characteristics of 11 environmentally sensitive trace elements in the coals of the permian period from the huainan coalfield anhui province china borehole samples of 336 coals two partings and four roof and floor mudstones were collected from mineable coal seams major elements and selected trace elements were determined by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry icp oes inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry icp ms and hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry haas the depositional environment abundances distribution and modes of occurrence of trace elements were investigated results show that clay and carbonate minerals are the principal inorganic constituents in the coals a lower deltaic plain where fluvial channel systems developed successively was the likely depositional environment of the permian coals in the huainan coalfield all major elements have wider variation ranges than those of chinese coals except for mg and fe the contents of cr co ni and se are higher than their averages for chinese coals and world coals vertical variations of trace elements in different formations are not significant except for b and ba certain roof and partings are distinctly higher in trace elements than underlying coal bench samples the modes of occurrence of trace elements vary in different coal seams as a result of different coal forming environments vanadium cr and th are associated with aluminosilicate minerals ba with carbonate minerals and cu zn as se and pb mainly with sulfide minerals

occurrence and distribution of sulfur in peat forming environments of southern florida abstract cores and surface samples of peats from the everglades mangrove region of southern florida were analyzed for total sulfur and pyritic sulfur these values were compared with the petrographic botanical components of the peats as determined from point counts of oriented microtome sections pyrite occurs as individual euhedral crystals loosely packed framboids and lenses or crusts of minute crystals framboids and minute crystals are often associated with organic matter and sometimes with bacteria and fungi pyrite tends to selectively occur in void spaces in or between peat tissues in samples containing very small amounts of pyrite framboidal pyrite is the prevalent form marine to brackish peats contain the highest pyrite and total sulfur contents with brackish peats generally containing more pyrite than marine peats pyrite tends to be lower in all peats within 30 cm of the surface whether marine or brackish burial of freshwater peats beneath marine or brackish peats tends to increase the total sulfur and pyritic sulfur in the underlying peats burial beneath brackish water clay rich deposits such as splays tends to increase total sulfur and pyritic sulfur in the underlying deposits more than burial beneath less clay rich deposits

observations of supercooling and frazil ice formation in the laptev sea coastal polynya this paper examines a hydrographic response to the wind driven coastal polynya activity over the southeastern laptev sea shelf for april may 2008 using a combination of environmental satellite envisat advanced synthetic aperture radar asar and terrasar x satellite imagery aerial photography meteorological data and sbe 37 salinity temperature depth and acoustic doppler current profiler land fast ice edgemoored instruments when asar observed the strongest end of april polynya event with frazil ice formation the moored instruments showed maximal acoustical scattering within the surface mixed layer and the seawater temperatures were either at or 0 02 c below freezing we also find evidence of the persistent orizontal temperature and salinity gradients across the fast ice edge to have the signature of geostrophic flow adjustment as predicted by polynya models

imaging and sampling beneath free drifting icebergs with a remotely operated vehicle abstract a commercially available small less than 100 kg remotely operated vehicle rov was modified to image and sample the marine ecosystem surrounding free drifting icebergs east of the antarctic peninsula during three field expeditions in 2005 2008 and 2009 modifications included fitting the vehicle with an accessory tool sled additional thrusters flotation and significant changes to internal wiring to support a wide array of sensors and samplers the rov was re configured aboard the r v nathaniel b palmer to perform either general exploration and biological sampling bio dives or water sampling chemistry dives in situ sensors and a suction sampler were used for bio dives while a suction pump and hose were fastened along the full length of the rov tether to enable continuous water sampling adjacent to each iceberg during chemistry dives details of the rov system are presented along with a discussion of the 18 dives that explored the sides and bottoms of six different icebergs during the 2009 field expedition

geochemistry of trace elements in chinese coals a review of abundances genetic types impacts on human health and industrial utilization abstract china will continue to be one of the largest coal producers and users in the world the high volume of coal use in china has focused attention on the amounts of toxic trace elements released from coal combustions and also the valuable trace elements extracted or potentially utilized from coal ash compared to world coals chinese coals have normal background values for most trace elements with the exception of higher li 31 8 g g zr 89 5 g g nb 9 44 g g ta 0 62 g g hf 3 71 g g th 5 84 g g and rare earth elements la lu y 136 g g this is not only due to the higher ash yields of chinese coals but also to alkali volcanic ashes found in some southwestern coals the background values of toxic elements of hg 0 163 g g as 3 79 g g and f 130 g g in chinese coals are comparable to coals from most other countries the genetic types for trace element enrichment of chinese coals include source rock controlled marine environment controlled hydrothermal fluid controlled including magmatic low temperature hydrothermal fluid and submarine exhalation controlled subtypes groundwater controlled and volcanic ash controlled the background values of trace elements were dominated by sediment source regions low temperature hydrothermal fluid was one of the major factors for the local enrichment of trace elements in southwestern china serious human health problems caused by indoor combustion of coal in china include endemic fluorosis arsenosis selenosis and lung cancer endemic fluorosis mainly occurring in western guizhou was mostly attributed to the high fluorine in clay that was used as a briquette binder for fine coals in addition to a small quantity of fluorine from coal fluorine in the coal from endemic fluorosis areas of western guizhou is within the usual range found in china and the world endemic arsenosis in southwestern guizhou is attributed to indoor combustion of high as coal endemic selenosis in enshi of hubei was due to high se in carbonaceous siliceous rocks and carbonaceous shales fine particles of quartz released into air during coal combustion are hypothesized as a possible cause for the lung cancer epidemic in xuanwei yunnan china valuable elements including ge ga u ree rare earth element nb zr and re are concentrated to levels comparable to conventional economic deposits in several coals or coal bearing strata in china the ge deposits at lincang yunnan province and wulantuga inner mongolia have been exploited and industrially utilized the enrichment of ge in the two deposits was caused by hydrothermal fluids associated with adjacent granitoids the ga al ore deposit in the jungar coalfield inner mongolia was derived from the neighboring weathered and oxidized bauxite of the benxi formation pennsylvanian the nb ta zr hf ree ga deposits in the late permian coal bearing strata of eastern yunnan and chongqing of southwestern china were attributed to ashes of the alkali volcanic eruptions

fluvial chronology in the east european plain over the last 20 ka and its palaeohydrological implications abstract a database containing 983 absolute ages of fluvial deposits was interpreted in palaeohydrological terms and 646 dates were found associated with 754 local palaeofluvial events geomorphic or sedimentological traces of changing fluvial activity combined probability density functions of high and low activity dates were used to detect time intervals of different palaeohydrological status after low fluvial activity during lgm two palaeohydrological epochs were designated extremely high activity in the end of mis 2 ca 18 11 7 ka before ce 2000 b2k and much lower activity in the holocene within the holocene two hierarchical levels of hydroclimatic variability were designated according to their duration and magnitude regional palaeohydrological phases centuries to few millennia and regional palaeofluvial episodes decades to few centuries tendency is rather clear of activity lowering in the first half and rise in the second half of the holocene extremes within the palaeohydrological phases were designated as 19 palaeofluvial episodes 7 high activity ha episodes 8 low activity stability la episodes and 4 contrast or complex ca episodes in most cases changes of fluvial activity were most likely induced by changing amounts of spring snowmelt runoff most distinct correlation of temperature and hydrological regimes was found in the late holocene high fluvial activity corresponded to cold climatic phases little ice age low activity to warm phases medieval climatic optimum current climate warming the suggested fluvial chronology was compared with independent hydroclimatic archives such as palaeosoils and lake levels correlation with soil formation alluviation epochs was found very close with some exceptions in the early holocene correspondence of fluvial activity to the caspian sea level changes is rather high in the second part of the holocene and is poor before 4 5 ka b2k which can be explained by insufficient data behind both types of reconstructions correlation of changes in fluvial activity within a west east transect over europe revealed relatively poor correlation in the early and mid holocene and much higher synchronism since 3 0 ka b2k which may indicate increasing role of westerlies in controlling european climates in the late holocene throughout the whole holocene changes of fluvial activity over eep were governed by natural climate forcing until the last few centuries when land use changes induced accelerated hillslope and gully erosion

the influence of an antarctic glacier tongue on near field ocean circulation and mixing in situ measurements of flow and stratification in the vicinity of the erebus glacier tongue a 12 km long floating antarctic glacier show the significant influence of the glacier three adcps 75 300 and 600 khz were deployed close 50 m to the sidewall of the glacier in order to capture near field flow distortion scalar temperature and conductivity and shear microstructure profiling captured small scale vertical variability flow magnitudes exceeded 0 3 m s 1 through a combination of tidal flow 8 cm s 1 and a background residual flow 4 10 cm s 1 flowing to the nw turbulence was dominated by deeper mixing during spring tide likely indicative of the role of bathymetric variation which locally forms an obstacle as great as the glacier during the neap tide near surface mixing was as energetic as that seen in the spring tide suggesting the presence of buoyancy driven near surface flows estimates of integrated dissipation rate suggest that these floating extensions of the antarctic ice sheet alter energy budgets through enhanced dissipation and thus influence coastal near surface circulation

spectral reflectance 400 2500 nm properties of coals adjacent sediments metamorphic and pyrometamorphic rocks in coal fire areas a case study of wuda coalfield and its surrounding areas northern china abstract although remote sensing is an effective tool extensively employed to detect and monitor coal fires continuous spectral reflectance properties of typical land surfaces such as coals adjacent sediments metamorphic rocks and pyrometamorphic rocks in coal fire regions have not been reported yet field and laboratory spectral reflectance of coals bituminous anthracite and coal waste sediments rocks sandstones siltstone desert sands limestones and shale metamorphic and pyrometamorphic rocks located in wuda coalfield and its surrounding areas are investigated for the reflective domain ranging from 400 nm to 2500 nm the results indicate that coal depicts the lowest reflectance 2 10 and strong absorption bands between 2200 and 2500 nm resulting from organic matter pyrometamorphic rocks are characterized by weak absorption features at 1400 and 1900 nm due to partial dehydration and strong ferric absorption features between 850 and 1100 nm attributed to thermal alteration and oxidation of the rocks sediments exhibit common absorptions features at 2200 and 2300 nm probably related to al oh vibrations and carbonate degenerate c o vibrations respectively spectral reflectance increases with a decrease of the coal rank and particle size the investigations on spectral reflectance properties of typical land surfaces in coal fire regions provide the basic understanding for applications of hyperspectral or multispectral remote sensing to classify land covers and to demarcate coal fire risk areas in similar geological settings

influence of sea ice cover and icebergs on circulation and water mass formation in a numerical circulation model of the ross sea antarctica 1 satellite imagery shows that there was substantial variability in the sea ice extent in the ross sea during 2001 2003 much of this variability is thought to be due to several large icebergs that moved through the area during that period the effects of these changes in sea ice on circulation and water mass distributions are investigated with a numerical general circulation model it would be difficult to simulate the highly variable sea ice from 2001 to 2003 with a dynamic sea ice model since much of the variability was due to the floating icebergs here sea ice concentration is specified from satellite observations to examine the effects of changes in sea ice due to iceberg c 19 simulations were performed using either climatological ice concentrations or the observed ice for that period the heat balance around the ross sea polynya rsp shows that the dominant term in the surface heat budget is the net exchange with the atmosphere but advection of oceanic warm water is also important the area average annual basal melt rate beneath the ross ice shelf is reduced by 12 in the observed sea ice simulation the observed sea ice simulation also creates more high salinity shelf water another simulation was performed with observed sea ice and a fixed iceberg representing b 15a there is reduced advection of warm surface water during summer from the rsp into mcmurdo sound due to b 15a but a much stronger reduction is due to the late opening of the rsp in early 2003 because of c 19

oxidatively and thermally altered high volatile bituminous coals in high temperature coal fire zone no 8 of the wuda coalfield north china abstract coal fires have received increasing attention due to their environmental economic and social impacts their significant influence on coal properties is widely documented by geophysical and geochemical methods the present paper demonstrates by means of coal petrological methods significant changes of microstructure optical appearance and optical properties of medium rank bituminous coals affected by an underground coal fire the studied changes are suggested to result from distinct oxidative and thermal alterations induced by a high temperature regime temperatures over 800 c encountered in the coal fire zone no 8 wuda coalfield the investigated coal seam no 9 represents a high volatile a bituminous coal and is dominated by vitrinite followed by inertinite with minor amounts of liptinite the microstructure of the coal fire affected coals facilitate a broad spectrum of characteristic features the microscopic analyses revealed development of 1 non tectonic fissures and non tectonic fractures 2 distinct micropores 3 dark oxidations rims and 4 bright spots interpreted as incipient mesophases optical properties were characterised for megasporinite and vitrinite in the examined megasporinite a noticeable anisotropy and distinct granular appearance was observed in the investigated coals both a dominant increase as well as a minor decrease in both random and maximum vitrinite reflectances were documented for 1 coal grains and 2 dark rimmed vitrinite at non tectonic fissures and non tectonic fractures in addition also a characteristic bimodal vitrinite population was measured the increase in bireflectance was clearly documented for two sub zones within the coal fire zone no 8 the applied kilby s cross plots suggested a large overlapping of the data sets of r max and r min indicating marked changes in vitrinite structure the applied coal petrological approach revealed distinct changes to the coal s microstructure appearance as well as to optical properties induced by the underground coal fire the presented coal petrographic approach may help determine the extent of coal fires in coal mines and the direction of propagation of coal fire front

permo carboniferous paleogeography and coal accumulation and their tectonic control in the north and south china continental plates abstract permo carboniferous strata in north china and south china were essentially controlled by paleogeography paleoclimate and plate tectonics during that time north china and south china were separate microcontinents located on opposite sides of the equator thus the characteristics of their coal deposits differ substantially in north china the coal seams were initially deposited on a north sloping epicontinental basin during the middle carboniferous by the middle of the late permian the locus of coal formation had shifted from the north to the south as a result of the uplift of the northern margin due to continental collision with the siberian plate as the paleoplate was situated in the low northern latitudes moist tropical climate and favorable geographic setting allowed the extensive development of late carboniferous and earliest permian peat swamps on the northern alluvial fluvial plain and central paralic regimes more significantly two thick coal sequences were formed in the transition belt between the alluvial apron and fluvial plain and the shoreline area where high groundwatertable fed by both rainwater and groundwater favored the formation of thick peat in swamps with northward drift the paleoplate entered the subtropic semiarid and arid climatic belt between the late early permian and early late permian coal formation was restricted to the paralic delta plain where locally oceanic wet climate and high groundwatertable prevailed following this the subduction of the paleo tethys beneath the southern margin of north china led to the upwarp of the southern margin and kept the delta system growing vertically for a considerable period so that it kept pace with shoreline fluctuations on the southern area the result was that multicycle deltaic coals were well developed at this stage in south china coal was formed in the coastal zone of an epeiric and shelf sea which connected the marinal basins the basins were frequently influenced by plate marginal tectonic movements and continental rifting related to back arc extension as a result coal formation was often interrupted by sea level fluctuations early carboniferous coal was deposited during the short regressions during the widespread transgression mainly on the restricted marine paralic plain where clastic deposition was active in the middle and late carboniferous no coal was formed because the paleoplate had drifted into a subtropic arid belt early permian coal accumulated at first in the northeast and later in the southwest due to tectonic influences in the late permian relatively thick and extensive coal was formed even though it was during a transgressive period in both the western and eastern margins under the equatorial hot humid conditions in general the seam geometry and quality particularly ash and sulfur of the coal was directly controlled by the geography and the changes in the depositional environments however the fluctuation in coal formation and the migration of thicker coal zones was indirectly controlled by paleoclimate and the sea level fluctuations in response to plate tectonic influences

observations of platelet ice growth and oceanographic conditions during the winter of 2003 in mcmurdo sound antarctica 1 platelet ice is the name given to ice crystals that nucleate in the ocean and grow either at depth or loosely attached to the ice water interface related to the proximity of ice shelves it is known to form in supercooled seawater this study details the conditions for its growth during the austral winter of 2003 in mcmurdo sound antarctica a key finding is that the presence of platelet ice in the sea ice cover is conclusively linked to the time history of the appearance of ice crystals in the water column monitored using the strength of the backscattered signal from an acoustic doppler current profiler as a proxy generally these crystals appeared from mid may as water near the interface became supercooled this near surface supercooling appears to be related to a simultaneous abrupt change in the structure of the upper 250 m of the water column from one that behaved dynamically and contained both the warmest and coolest measured temperatures to one in which the water was essentially isothermal near its surface freezing temperature near surface ocean temperature was also affected by tidal mixing and by an increase in the thickness and density over the course of winter of the surface mixed layer created by salt rejection during ice growth these processes allowed cold water trapped by buoyancy in a band at the base of the mixed layer in early winter to gain access to the ice water interface by midwinter this band of cold water probably had its origin beneath the mcmurdo ice shelf

evaporite minerals of the lower 538 5 m sediments in a long core from the western qaidam basin tibet abstract qaidam basin is a tectonically controlled mesozoic cenozoic depression on the northern margin of the tibetan plateau a 938 5 m long core was drilled in the qahansilatu sub basin in the western qaidam basin with an average core recovery of 95 it revealed alternating salt layers and carbonate clay layers samples were collected at 10 40 cm intervals for mineralogical analysis by xrd and chemical analysis by icp oes the lower 538 5 m sediments are composed of halite gypsum anhydrite gaylussite calcite aragonite ankerite dolomite and an unnamed mineral mg0 92ca0 08co3 3h2o with trace eugsterite the mother brines could be na type na ca type na ca mg type ca na type ca mg na type and trace ca mg na reflux and bacterial activity could be suitable for the formation of dolomite deep burial diagenesis could have played an active role in the formation of ankerite and anhydrate the continuous presence of halite suggested the paleo lake water was highly brackish or saline with high evaporation since 2 77 ma salt layers in the lower 538 5 m long sediments were present from 2221 ka to 2052 ka corresponding to pleistocene salt formation in the qaidam basin as hydrated carbonate minerals both gaylussite and the unnamed mineral are deposited under high precipitation rates with microbial activity gaylussite was deposited from na ca enriched solutions with molar ratios of na ca more than 2 from 691 m 2226 ka to 413 6 m 1222 ka the un named mineral mg0 92ca0 08co3 3h2o was found from 523 4 m 1728 ka to 724 2 m 2308 ka anhydrite could be transformed from gypsum under deep burial from 657 42 m 2052 ka to 867 m 2556 ka alternating salt and clay layers in the lower part of the core recorded arid and relatively wet climatic oscillations and the evolution of brine as a tectonic sub basin tectonic activities could change the local climate during episodes of uplift and subsidence the dominant minerals in the chahansilatu sub basin are similar to those of the other sub basins in the western qaidam basin but have asynchronous evolutionary stages of brine

surface elevation changes at the front of the ross ice shelf implications for basal melting 1 rapid melting beneath the ross ice shelf ris occurs near the ice front likely in response to a secondary buoyant plume with tidal mixing and is sensitive to seasonal water temperatures in front of the ice shelf the front of the ris is examined using glas icesat laser altimetry data spatial and temporal changes in surface elevations are attributed to enhanced basal melting of the ice shelf near the ice front melt rates b increase exponentially as the front is approached from approximately zero at 40 km from the front to an average of 2 8 1 0 m a 1 within the front kilometer melt estimates within the front 60 km are best fit by the relationship b 2 0 exp x 11900 m a 1 where x denotes distance from the front frontal melt totals approximately 16 km3 a 1 in the front 40 km which accounts for between 10 and 40 of current published estimates of total melt beneath the ris spatial averaging along the front reveals a different pattern of melt in regions that have recently calved as compared to regions that have not calved frontal melt is modeled as a one dimensional buoyant plume with tidal currents included these model results imply that modest increases in sea surface temperatures will lead to considerable increases in melting beneath the ice shelf front

stratified tidal flow over a bump the interaction of a stratified flow with an isolated topographic feature can introduce numerous disturbances into the flow including turbulent wakes internal waves and eddies measurements made near a bump east of race rocks vancouver island reveal a wide range of phenomena associated with the variable flow speeds and directions introduced by the local tides upstream and downstream flows were observed by placing two acoustic doppler current profilers adcps on one flank of the bump simultaneous shipboard adcp surveys corroborated some of the more striking features froude number conditions varied from subcritical to supercritical as the tidal velocities varied from 0 2 to 1 5 m s 1 during the strong ebb when the moored adcps were located on the lee side a persistent full water depth lee wave was detected in one of the moored adcps and the shipboard adcp however the placement of the moorings would suggest that by the time it appears in the moored adcp beams the lee wave has been swept downstream or has separated from the bump raw adcp beam velocities suggest enhanced turbulence during various phases of the tide many of the three dimensional flow characteristics are in good agreement with laboratory studies and some characteristics such as shear in the bottom boundary layer are not

holocene soil erosion in eastern europe land use and or climate controlled the example of a catchment at the giant chalcolithic settlement at maidanetske central ukraine abstract the younger quaternary erosion history was reconstructed in a catchment close to the chalcolithic giant settlement maidanetske central ukraine based on dated sediment sequences four trenches and a long percussion drill core were analyzed in a valley grading from a loess covered plateau towards the talianky river the sediments were dated by a combination of radiocarbon dating optical stimulated luminescence osl and embedded artifacts although there is some weakness of numerical dating so far a non coincidence between phases of soil erosion and the local and regional settlement history over long periods of the holocene is indicated this viewed in the light of the geographical setting of the site in the climate sensitive forest steppe borderland suggests climatically driven erosion processes the detected phases of erosion coincide with global cal 27 6 1 3 kyrs bp 12 0 0 4 kyrs bp northern hemispheric cal 8 5 0 3 kyrs bp mediterranean cal 3 93 0 1 kyrs bp as well as western to central european 2700 to 2000 cal bp climate anomalies increased occurrences of heavy precipitation events probably during phases of a weakened vegetation cover could explain the observed record investigations at additional sites in eastern europe are needed to verify the representativeness of the presented record from central ukraine at a regional level the composition of the sediments indicates changes of the slope channel connectivity during the deposition history whereas the glacial to early holocene and modern times sediments were derived from the whole catchment area during the mid to late holocene a tendency to lower slope storage of colluvial material and valley incision is indicated

trace element abundances in major minerals of late permian coals from southwestern guizhou province china abstract fourteen samples of minerals were separated by handpicking from late permian coals in southwestern guizhou province china these 14 minerals were nodular pyrite massive recrystallized pyrite pyrite deposited from low temperature hydrothermal fluid and from ground water clay minerals and calcite deposited from low temperature hydrothermal fluid and from ground water the mineralogy elemental composition and distribution of 33 elements in these samples were studied by optical microscopy scanning electron microscope equipped with energy dispersive x ray spectrometer sem edx x ray diffraction xrd cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry cv aas atomic fluorescence spectrometry afs inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry icp ms and ion selective electrode ise the results show that various minerals in coal contain variable amounts of trace elements clay minerals have high concentrations of ba be cs f ga nb rb th u and zr quartz has little contribution to the concentration of trace elements in bulk coal arsenic mn and sr are in high concentrations in calcite pyrite has high concentrations of as cd hg mo sb se tl and zn different genetic types of calcite in coal can accumulate different trace elements for example ba co cr hg ni rb sn sr and zn are in higher concentrations in calcite deposited from low temperature hydrothermal fluid than in that deposited from ground water furthermore the concentrations of some trace elements are quite variable in pyrite different genetic types of pyrites py a b c d have different concentrations of trace elements and the concentrations of trace elements are also different in pyrite of low temperature hydrothermal origin collected from different locations the study shows that elemental concentration is rather uniform in a pyrite vein there are many micron and submicron mosaic pyrites in a pyrite vein which is enriched in some trace elements such as as and mo the content of trace element in pyrite vein depends upon the content of mosaic pyrite and of trace elements in it many environmentally sensitive trace elements are mainly contained in the minerals in coal and hence the physical coal cleaning techniques can remove minerals from coal and decrease the emissions of potentially hazardous trace elements

observation of sub inertial internal tides in mcmurdo sound antarctica 1 mcmurdo sound antarctica at 78 s is poleward of the critical latitudes for both diurnal and semi diurnal internal tides which are respectively 30 s and 75 s yet fieldwork during april 2003 and november 2004 observed energy at both frequencies high temporal resolution density profiles in april 2003 and mooring observations at 240 m depth in november 2004 show a diurnal internal tide with displacements of up to 12 m the horizontal decay length scales for diurnal evanescent internal tides indicate that they were locally generated the november 2004 mooring observations also show a semi diurnal tide with displacements up to 12 m although some of the energy in these waves could be baroclinic inertial motion which has a similar frequency at this latitude the semi diurnal internal waves have a larger decay length scale than the diurnal internal waves so are not necessarily locally generated

pedostratigraphy and chronology of the late pleistocene for the extra glacial area in the central russian upland reference section aleksandrov quarry abstract new results on stratigraphy and chronology obtained on the basis of osl and 14c dating of paleosols sediments and cryogenic deformations in the aleksandrov quarry situated at the central russian upland are discussed due to the location of the site in a paleodepression the section presents various stages of soil formation cryogenesis and sedimentation starting from the mikulino interglacial to the middle last glacial time the studied sequence is well preserved and one of the most detailed soil sedimentary terrestrial archives within eastern europe it reflects climatic variations comprising the timespan from the marine isotopic stage mis 5e to mis 3 at the base of the paleodepression the pedogenetic stages are extraordinary detailed distinct paleosols are alternating with erosion accumulative stages forming the ryshkovo pedolitocomplex during the mikulino interglacial during the early valdai time two interstadial paleosols were developed and the middle valdai section comprises two main interstadial paleosols as well in general interstadial paleosols of the late valdai time are absent in the studied quarry for the first time the chronological boundaries of the mis 5e interglacial are recorded and thus the duration of soil formation could be determined from 12 to 15 thousand years furthermore stages of periglacial conditions during the early middle and late valdai time were dated the obtained ages form the base for a chronostratigraphic framework which was correlated with those of the loess paleosol archives of eastern central and western europe

thermohaline steps induced by melting of the erebus glacier tongue a vertically stable step like thermohaline structure is observed throughout a continuous 400 m conductivity temperature depth ctd profile taken near the erebus glacier tongue mcmurdo sound antarctica the pattern is best developed between the sea surface and 250 m depth the interval corresponding to that of the irregular underwater profile of the glacier tongue the steps average 17 m in thickness and typically display discontinuities of 0 1 c in temperature 0 04 in salinity and 3 5 10 4 g cm 3 in density the observations are compared with theory and laboratory experiments of cell development and lateral flow near ice melting into vertically stratified salt water at this location subsurface seawater is inferred to remain above the in situ freezing point year round and contains sufficient heat to account for much of the glacier tongue thinning by basal melting an adequate volume of meltwater would result to produce the measured salinity steps we discuss related observations and some implications of this process for ocean circulation and biological productivity in the antarctic

observations of flow and ice ocean interaction beneath the mcmurdo ice shelf antarctica 1 the first oceanographic data from beneath the mcmurdo ice shelf antarctica are presented here with synchronous observations from southern mcmurdo sound multilevel current profiles at three sites over spring tide revealed primarily k1 diurnal tides with net transport from mcmurdo sound into the basin beneath the mcmurdo ice shelf the time series in southern mcmurdo sound captured the 14 day tidal phase shift and showed that transport into the subice shelf cavity was even greater over neap tide with average transport 1 8 sv mcmurdo sound sea ice cover during this period was the heaviest in 25 years of satellite record and was associated with the proximity of two massive icebergs b 15a and c 19 the warmest waters observed beneath the ice shelf were set at the surface freezing temperature probably through recent interaction with this extensive sea ice cover observed ranges of temperature and salinity were narrowed to the extent that neither antarctic surface water nor high salinity shelf water were observed beneath the ice shelf we anticipate that in years with more typical summer sea ice cover surface waters swept beneath the ice shelf will be significantly warmer having even greater potential for basal melt near the ice shelf front our observations also exhibit some of the interactions particular to the subice shelf ocean environment these include occurrence of platelet ice in ice shelf meltwater boundary layer friction effects from the ice cover on the ocean and tidal currents driving enhanced melting near the ice shelf front

trace element emissions from spontaneous combustion of gob piles in coal mines shanxi china the emissions of potentially hazardous trace elements from spontaneous combustion of gob piles from coal mining in shanxi province china have been studied more than ninety samples of solid waste from gob piles in shanxi were collected and the contents of twenty potentially hazardous trace elements be f v cr mn co ni cu zn as se mo cd sn sb hg tl pb th and u in these samples were determined trace element contents in solid waste samples showed wide ranges as compared with the upper continental crust the solid waste samples are significantly enriched in se 20x and tl 12x and are moderately enriched in f as mo sn sb hg th and u 2 5x the solid waste samples are depleted in v cr mn co ni cu and zn the solid waste samples are enriched in f v mn cr co ni cu zn sb th and u as compared with the shanxi coals most trace elements are higher in the clinker than in the unburnt solid waste except f sn and hg trace element abundances are related to the ash content and composition of the samples the content of f is negatively correlated with the ash content while pb is positively correlated with the ash the concentrations of as mn zn and cd are highly positively correlated with fe2o3 in the solid waste the as content increases with increasing sulfur content in the solid waste the trace element emissions are calculated for mass balance the emission factors of trace elements during the spontaneous combustion of the gobs are determined and the trace element concentrations in the flue gas from the spontaneous combustion of solid waste are calculated more than a half of f se hg and pb are released to the atmosphere during spontaneous combustion some trace element concentrations in flue gas are higher than the national emission standards thus gob piles from coal mining pose a serious environmental problem

concentration distribution and modes of occurrence of selenium in huaibei coalfield anhui province china selenium a toxic element is highly enriched in the coals of the huaibei coal deposit china for this study se content along with rock forming and trace element abundances was determined in 123 coal and 19 rock samples collected from the main coal seams in seven coal mines in the huaibei coalfield this was done to investigate the se geochemistry in the huaibei coals compared with average chinese coal and other coals around the world the huaibei coals are enriched in se by a factor of five differences in the boron content in the sequence of huaibei coal seams show that the depositional environment of the formations hosting the coal seams evolved from a delta front to a prodelta setting and then to a delta plain environment selenium is distributed unevenly both horizontally and vertically in the huaibei coal deposit pearson correlation coefficients between se with several elements ca fe and s indicate that iron bearing clay minerals and carbonates are the dominant carriers of se in coals of the lower shihezi formation selenium in coals from no 3 and no 10 coal seams are mainly associated with sulfide minerals the well developed faults in huaibei coalfield may have contributed to the enrichment of se in huaibei coals