Environmental Monitoring and Assessment最新文献

The Higher and Tethys Himalayan region of NW-Himalaya is less explored from the natural radioactivity mapping assessment, though geologically and tectonically, this region is still active. The concentration of primordial radionuclides (²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰ K) in rock samples of the Manali-Leh Highway region of the Himalayas is determined in the present study using the HPGe detector. The radiological hazard parameters are also estimated in terms of radium equivalent activity (Ra_eq), annual effective dose (E_in and E_out), hazard indices (H_in, H_ex, H_α, and H_γ), and gamma absorbed dose rate. SEM–EDS analysis was used to understand the mineralogical composition of the rocks. The activity concentration of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰ K radionuclides varies from 1.4 ± 0.9 to 25.3 ± 1.2, 0.7 ± 0.5 to 59.6 ± 1.6, and BDL (below detection limit) to 830.3 ± 45.7 Bq kg⁻¹, with an average value of 13.0 ± 1.0, 21.7 ± 1.0, and 243.7 ± 25.2 Bq kg⁻¹, respectively. The average of Ra_eq in the study region lies within the safe limit of 370 Bq kg⁻¹. The hazard indices have values < 1, indicating no radiological hazards to the population from the rocks. The annual effective dose also has values less than the global average value. This study revealed that the rocks of the Higher Himalayan region have a higher concentration of natural radioactivity, while the Tethys Himalayan rocks have lower concentrations of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰ K radionuclides. The origin of rocks from different lithologies may be the reason for the natural radioactivity variation. The average concentrations of primordial radionuclides in the region are within the world average indicating that the rocks of the region are safe to be used for different purposes.

The paper presents a novel technique for quantifying trace metals in aerosol samples in real time. Airborne metals were continuously collected for one week near the Baltic Sea in Finland using a particle-into-liquid sampler (PILS). The collected liquid samples were analyzed for metals using micro-discharge optical emission spectroscopy (µDOES). The micro-discharge analyzer is designed to perform real-time, on-site measurements of metal concentrations in aqueous solutions. Currently, µDOES can provide online measurements of 30 metals, with typical detection limits from 0.01 µg/m³ to 0.06 µg/m³ with a long-term repeatability less than 5%. The novelty of this analyzer lies in its compact design, rapid detection capabilities, and ease of operation and maintenance. Several metals, including potassium (K), calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), aluminum (Al), magnesium (Mg), and copper (Cu), were measured in the aerosol samples collected using PILS. The results indicate that this approach has significant potential for future automated online monitoring of airborne metal concentrations, facilitating investigations into their sources and daily variations. The development of real-time technologies for rapid, online, and accurate atmospheric aerosol measurements is essential for advancing climate change research. Such advancements allowing for continuous real-time data enhance our understanding of aerosol dynamics, improve source identification, and inform public health and environmental policies, ultimately contributing to more effective climate change monitoring and mitigation.

Glass beads laid on the road, mainly used for better visibility, can contribute to harmful anthropogenic waste to the marine environment, and it is a prerequisite to distinguish the chemical properties associated with it. This is the first systematic approach and evaluation of the toxic and non-toxic characteristics of the glass beads from the Indian coastal region (Goa state), which originated from the wearing of road paint over a period. Glass beads ranging from a few hundred to ~ 1000 µm were found on various beaches far from the roadside throughout the coastal state. Examination of these glass beads revealed the possible contribution of toxic elements such as arsenic, lead, cadmium, chromium, and barium beyond the global regulatory limit. Mercury and other analyzed elements are within acceptable limits. However, a quantitative assessment of their environmental impact indicates that glass beads can impact the marine ecosystem and increase the background level of environmental pollutants.

Elemental composition of Vaccinium myrtillus L. and Vaccinium vitis-idaea L. has not been determined yet in detail. In our study, a scanning electron microscope coupled with an energy dispersive X-ray analyser (SEM–EDX) ensured the determination of 15 elements in the leaves of Vaccinium sp. growing in the control and the mine polluted locality. The soil elemental analyses showed a higher content of 11 elements from all determined in the mine-influenced samples. Elemental analyses of the control leaves showed the highest contents of all determined elements for V. vitis-idaea, except for carbon. The impact of pollution on V. myrtillus leaves caused significant increase in oxygen, natrium, magnesium, sulphur, chlorine, potassium and calcium content. The contents of carbon, nitrogen and silicon decreased substantially. In the case of the V. vitis-idaea leaves, the content of most of elements reduced, and in the case of six elements, even significantly. A significant increase was recorded for carbon, iron and copper. The effect of the environment has influenced the production of phytochemicals, assessed by HPLC–DAD. The production of flavonoids (hyperoside, isoquercetin) increased significantly in V. myrtillus and decreased to a detectable minimum in V. vitis-idaea. In the case of chlorogenic acid, arbutin and hydroquinone, their levels changed minimally in V. myrtillus, but significantly more in the V. vitis-idaea leaves. The importance of elemental analyses lies in detecting the presence of toxic elements or their harmful concentrations in plants that are the source of food or dietary supplements.

In the upcoming decades, precipitation and temperature patterns are expected to shift in the Mediterranean basin due to global warming, potentially having an influence on the environment and the economy in the area. Using monthly precipitation and temperature data from 15 global climate models (GCMs) developed as part of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6), the Mediterranean Climate Envelop (MCE), as defined by Daget’s (1977) criteria, is projected under two climate change scenarios: SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5, and for two future periods: 2050s and 2070s. According to the findings, the MCE is expected to expand by 3.51 and 4.93% in the 2050s under the SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5 scenarios, respectively, in comparison to the current state. This expansion is expected to reach 5.28 and 9.87% for SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5, respectively, in 2070s. For both situations and durations, MCE contraction would be minor, however, at less than 1%. More than 99% of the present MCE would stay stable proportionately. The northern Mediterranean region is mostly concerned by the MCE’s expansion. The SSP2-4.5 scenario predicts that by the 2070s, expansion zones will occupy 674,183 km², with 64% of the area located in Southern Europe and 36% in Western Asia. In SSP5-8.5 scenario, this area is expected to be significantly larger, estimated to be approximately 1,256,881 km²; 67% in Southern Europe and 33% in Western Asia.

Estimates of dark diversity, species that belong to a given species pool but are not present locally, can help to understand how environmental conditions influence species distribution. However, it remains uncertain whether dark diversity can predict the absence of indicator species in preserved environments after environmental changes. We explored the sensitivity of dark diversity (the set of species absent from a particular area), in detecting the absence of Zygoptera (Odonata) indicative of preserved forest environments in altered habitats, and the influence of sample coverage on the detected patterns. We sampled 98 streams in the Amazon region, where the dark diversity of Zygoptera was estimated based on probabilistic species co-occurrence patterns using the Beals index, encompassing 16 species in the Santarém/Belterra region and 23 species in the Paragominas region. The mean total richness of observed Zygoptera species in Paragominas, 42.7 species, and Santarém/Belterra, 25.93 species, was higher than the estimated mean dark diversity for the two study sites, which were 12.32 and 12.20 species, respectively. The dark diversity was not effective in detecting the absence of forest-indicator Zygoptera in human-altered streams and exhibited a positive relationship between Zygoptera dark diversity and species common to different environments concerning environmental integrity only in Paragominas, but not in Santarém. We found that there is a possibility that observed values of dark diversity may occasionally be subject to sampling coverage biases. In this regard, we suggest considering sampling coverage alongside field-collected biological datasets to assess whether it is related to dark diversity.

This study was conducted to assess sediment trace metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Ni and Zn) contamination using a systematic approach by collecting sediment samples from 8 transects along the Dubai coastline, each 10 km long, and each transect included its nearshore sediment sampling station. Additionally, 10 sediment samples were collected from the Dubai creek and other potential sources of metal pollution. The sediment samples were collected in December and again in August. However, no significant difference in sediment metal concentration was found between the two sampling campaigns. The sediment trace metal concentrations (0.92–1.31 mg Cd/kg, 2.82–176.6 mg Cr/kg, 2.27–621.67 mg Cu/kg, 0.88–23.6 mg Pb/kg, 1.92–192.2 mg Ni/kg and 9.1–391.05 mg Zn/kg) showed considerable variability, except for Cd (1.08 ± 0.06 mg/kg, 5.55% variability). Despite this, no significant differences in sediment metal concentrations were found between the sampled transects. However, significant variations in Cr, Cu, Pb and Zn were evident between distances from the shoreline to offshore stations along the Dubai coast, and the nearshore locations presented clear evidence of elevated/maximum sediment metal concentrations. Most of the sediment trace metal concentrations, however, were found well within the sediment quality guidelines (SQGs) for nearshore sediments. Trace metal contamination hotspots, nonetheless, were identified at some nearshore stations as determined by metal level exceedance over the SQGs, background levels and the pollution load index, with limited potential ecological risk. Overall, the findings suggest that sediments in the Dubai coastal environment are mainly influenced by anthropogenic activities in stations located in the proximity of ship maintenance, ports, and industrial areas such as Dry Dock, Jaddaf, Jebel Ali Port, Wharfage, Hamriya and DUBAL.

Estimation of the glacier-stored freshwater is important to understand the water security in the Himalayan region. While previous work has studied the western and central Himalayan glaciers, the eastern counterpart received less and more scattered attention. In this study, an attempt is made to quantify the total glacier-stored freshwater in the Brahmaputra basin and later compared with previous global models. Using open-source tools such as COSI-Corr and the Himalayan Glacier Thickness Mapper (HIGTHIM), the surface velocity and thickness of 1075 glaciers (> 1 km²) in the Brahmaputra basin were estimated, resulting in a current ice-volume estimate of 283 × 10⁹ m³. Based on the laminar flow model, the mean ice volume ranges from 8284 to 230,186 m³, with an average of 36,570 m³. Sub-basin-wise evaluations of the total glacier-stored freshwater availability in the basin were also conducted, revealing that the Siang (89.998 × 10⁹ m³, 31.45%) and Lohit (84.371 × 10⁹ m³, 29.49%) sub-basins have significantly larger ice volumes than others. The average mean ice volume for each sub-basin are as follows: Teesta (45,233 m³), Sankosh (45,552 m³), Manas (39,581.7 m³), Subansiri (40,922.4 m³), Kameng (41,241.2 m³), Siang (36,120.5 m³), Dibang (31,792.2 m³), and Lohit (30,340.6 m³). Teesta, Sankosh, and Manas exhibit relatively higher average mean ice volumes than others. In comparison with the global studies, the present study’s findings are acceptable with ensemble ice-volume estimates considering an uncertainty of ± 17.35%. Therefore, these results serve as a primary input for assessing the future changes in water resources and hazards related to water in the Brahmaputra basin.

The current study explores the seasonal dynamics of microplastic (MP) pollution in the Ganga River of Varanasi City, Uttar Pradesh, India, focusing on water and sediment samples collected during pre-monsoon and post-monsoon periods. The analysis shows significant variations in MP occurrence, shape dynamics, color distribution, and size composition across diverse sampling sites. During the pre-monsoon season, MP concentrations ranged from 17 to 36 particles/L in water samples and 160 to 312 particles/kg in sediment, indicating a moderate to high level of contamination. Post-monsoon sampling showed higher MP concentrations at most sites, indicating the influence of seasonal hydrological changes on MP distribution. Shifts in MP shape dynamics were observed between seasons, with films, foams, fragments, and filaments showing variable distributions. Similarly, color variations in MPs exhibited site-specific patterns, with white, brown, blue, and other colors being predominant. These findings highlight the diverse sources and compositions of MPs in the river ecosystem, highlighting the complexity of MP pollution dynamics. Polymer-type distributions further elucidated the composition of MPs, with notable contributions from polyethylene terephthalate, rayon, polyester, and polyvinyl chloride. PCA analysis revealed significant shifts in particle size and shape distribution between pre-monsoon and post-monsoon periods in both water and sediment samples, with post-monsoon samples showing an increase in larger particles and filaments. These changes highlighted key factors driving the variance in microplastic contamination across different sites. The prevalence of these polymers features diverse sources of MP pollution, including textiles, packaging materials, and industrial waste. Ongoing monitoring and research are crucial to understanding its sources, distribution, and impact on river ecosystems, essential for protecting aquatic biodiversity and human health.

The works of assessing the pollution posed by metals in agricultural areas in developing countries are limited. This study aims to assess metal concentrations and pollution indices of parent materials and soils representing the mantle and oceanic crust units of the ophiolite in the Eastern Mediterranean region, specifically in Kahramanmaraş Province. A total of 88 samples, comprising 44 soil (0–30 cm) and 44 parent material (90 + cm), were collected from the study area. Arsenic (As), mercury (Hg), selenium (Se), uranium (U), molybdenum (Mo), tin (Sn), and cesium (Cs) concentrations were analyzed in these samples, along with the reference metal, iron (Fe). Pollution levels were assessed using enrichment factor (EF) and contamination factor (CF) calculations. Results showed that elemental concentrations (Hg, Se, U, Mo, Sn, and Cs) in soils from the mantle and oceanic crust generally reflected those of the parent material. However, the average As concentration in soils from oceanic crust and mantle units was notably elevated, showing a 3 to fourfold increase compared to the parent material. Based on pollution index values, soils from these units demonstrated a moderate level of enrichment (2 < EF < 5) for As, while other elements (Hg, Se, U, Mo, Sn, and Cs) fell into the low enrichment class (EF < 2). Furthermore, the CF index indicated significant contamination (3 < CF < 6) for As. These findings suggest As contamination in soils from different units of the ophiolite (mantle and oceanic crust), potentially resulting from agricultural chemicals like pesticides and fertilizers.