The aim of this study is to estimate the long-term behaviour of trace metals, in two soils differently impacted by past mining. Topsoils from two 1 km(2) zones in the forested Morvan massif (France) were sampled to assess the spatial distribution of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn. The first zone had been contaminated by historical mining. As expected, it exhibits higher trace-metal levels and greater spatia...

Elevated As occurs in many meta-sedimentary bedrock aquifers where elevated bulk-rock As content is one of the primary controls on the concentration of As in groundwater. This study was designed to determine As concentrations in a black shale, black slate and black phyllite sequence that comprises the bedrock aquifer system of the Taconic Mountain region of southwestern Vermont and adjacent New...

Antarctica is often considered as one of the last pristine regions, but it could be affected by pollution at global and local scale. Concentrations of Al, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Cd and Pb were determinated by ICP-MS in feathers (n = 207 individuals) of gentoo, chinstrap and Adélie penguin collected in 8 locations throughout the Antarctic Peninsula (2006-2007). The highest levels of sev...

Large efforts are made to limit the emissions of fine particles and mercury from coal combustion. Modern fabric filters are certainly an alternative for an efficient removal of fine particles and offer also the option to inject adsorbents to improve the removal of mercury. In this study the particle size distribution was measured after a modern design high ratio fabric filter (HRFF) located aft...

Introduction: It has long been recognized that lunar mantle is chemically, isotopically, and lithologically heterogeneous. The heterogeneities are ancient and were formed during large-scale differentiation events, such as the solidification of a globally distributed lunar magma ocean (LMO) and subsequent lunar cumulate mantle overturn [1-3]. Mixing of distinct early and late LMO cumulates resul...

In this study we determined the concentration of metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn) in the water lower São Francisco River basin, to evaluate the influence of urbanization and industrialization on environmental changes in the water resource. All samples were analyzed using the IUPAC adapted method and processed in an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The sampling stations located nea...

At the southeastern part of Sweden, old art and crystal waste glass has been identified as a hazardous waste due to high weight concentrations of Pb (32.398%), Cd (0.085%), and As (1.976%). The reduction-melting technique was used to investigate the extraction of these trace elements from powder waste glass of particle size < 1 mm. Following a factorial design technique, the experimental result...

To reveal what controls the concentration and distribution of possibly hazardous (Mn, U, Se, Cd, Bi, Pb) and nonhazardous (Fe, V, Mo, PO(4)) trace elements in groundwater of the Bengal delta, we mapped their concentrations in shallow groundwater (<60 mbgl) across 102 km(2) of West Bengal. Only Mn is a potential threat to health, with 55% of well water exceeding 0.3 mg/L, the current Indian limi...

The effects of crystal-plasticity on the U-Th-Pb system in zircon is studied by quantitative microstructural and microchemical analysis of a large zircon grain collected from pyroxenite of the Lewisian Complex, Scotland. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) mapping reveals a c.18 degree variation in crystallographic orientation that comprises both a gradual change in orientation and a series...

BACKGROUND Hair is a commonly used exposure biomarker for metals and other trace elements, but concern has been raised regarding its appropriateness for assessing the internal dose. OBJECTIVES The aim of the present study was to evaluate children's hair as biomarker of internal dose for toxic (As, Mn, Cd, Pb) and essential elements (Mg, Ca, Fe, Co, Cu, Zn, Se, Mo). METHODS In 207 children (...