Gas ratios in air withdrawn from polar firn (snowpack) show systematic enrichments of Ne/N2, O2/N2 and Ar/N2, in the firn–ice transition region where bubbles are closing off. Air from the bubbles in polar ice is correspondingly depleted in these ratios, after accounting for gravitational effects. Gas in the bubbles becomes fractionated during the process of bubble close-off and fractionation ma...

There is currently much interest in the interactions between exotic plants and soil organisms. Exotic invasive species can have profound effects on the microbial community of the soil and positive feedback of soil biota to invasive plants may facilitate their successful invasion. To better understand the impacts of Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. invasion on microbial carbon source utilization and r...

Calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) are the oldest solar system solids known in primitive meteorites (chondrites). They predate the other components by 1–2 Myr, and likely condensed within a short time interval, close to the Sun in the gaseous protoplanetary disk. Their preservation must counterbalance both the sunward drift caused by gas drag and the general inward motion of the entraining...

Bottom-blowing, as widely adopted in electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking technology, stir the molten bath by blowing inert gas (Ar, N2) from the bottom of EAF to promote fluid flow and uneven metallurgical reaction in the molten bath. However, for eccentric structure design of electric arc furnace, the problem still exists in EBT(Eccentric Bottom Tapping)area. In this study, by the analysis ...

The injection of gas in a liquid-saturated granular bed gives rise to a wide variety of invasion patterns. Many studies have focused on constrained porous media, in which the grains are fixed in the bed and only the interstitial fluid flows when the gas invades the system. With a free upper boundary, however, the grains can be entrained by the ascending gas or fluid motion, and the competition ...

Gas hydrates in sub-seabed sediments is an unexploited source of energy with estimated reserves larger than those of conventional oil. One of the methods for recovering methane from gas hydrates involves injection of Carbon Dioxide (CO2), causing the dissociation of methane and storing CO2. The occurrence of gas hydrates offshore Portugal is well known associated to mud volcanoes in the Gulf of...

Chlorofluorocarbons CFC-11 (CCl(3)F), CFC-12 (CCl(2)F(2)), and CFC-113 (CCl(2)F-CClF(2)) are used in hydrology as transient tracers under the assumption of conservative behavior in the unsaturated and saturated soil zones. However, laboratory and field studies have shown that these compounds are not stable under anaerobic conditions. To determine the degradation rates of CFCs in a tropical envi...

The performance of airlift bioreactors are closely related with their geometry, especially the gas-liquid separator design. In this study, the influence of the gas-liquid separator geometry on oxygen transfer and gas hold-up was evaluated in 10-L concentric-tube airlift bioreactor operating with distilled water and xanthan gum solution. The specific airflow rate (ɸAIR) exhibited the higher effe...