Industrial emissions of carbon dioxide in the United States: a projection

Carbon dioxide builds up in the eartht's atmosphere principally from increased use of fossil fuels. Estimates of the escalating uses of fossil fuels in the United States, especially for the generation of electric power and in the internal combustion engine, show that by the year 2000 emissions will have increased approximately eighteenfold from 1890. In the period 1965 to 1985 an emission-rate increase of around 4.0 percent per year compounded is expected. The expected intrusion and expansion of nuclear power will tend to lower the rates of increase of emission after 1985. Increases in emission rates in the rest of the world will probably equal or exceed the values projected for the United States.     

Fate of fossil fuel carbon dioxide and the global carbon budget

The fate of fossil fuel carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere depends on the exchange rates of carbon between the atmosphere and three major carbon reservoirs, namely, the oceans, shallow-water sediments, and the terrestrial biosphere. Various assumptions and models used to estimate the global carbon budget for the last 20 years are reviewed and evaluated. Several versions of recent atmosphere-ocean models appear to give reliable and mutually consistent estimates for carbon dioxide uptake by the oceans. On the other hand, there is no compelling evidence which establishes that the terrestrial biomass has decreased at a rate comparable to that of fossil fuel combustion over the last two decades, as has been recently claimed.     

Acid lakes from natural and anthropogenic causes

Lakes may be acid because of natural ecological conditions or because of anthropogenic activities. Apparently there has been a recent increase in acidity of many lakes in the northeastern United States. Factors that may be contributing to this increase include the use by utilities of precipitators, sulfur scrubbers, and tall stacks; the use of petroleum; and methods of combustion of fossil fuels.     

A terminal mesozoic "greenhouse": lessons from the past

The late Mesozoic rock and life records implicate short-term (up to 10(5) to 10(6) years) global warming resulting from carbon dioxide-induced "greenhouse" conditions in the late Maestrichtian extinctions that terminated the Mesozoic Era. Oxygen isotope data from marine microfossils suggest late Mesozoic climatic cooling into middle Maestrichtian, and warming thereafter into the Cenozoic. Animals adapting to climatic cooling could not adapt to sudden warming. Small calcareous marine organisms would have suffered solution effects of carbon dioxide-enriched waters; animals dependent upon them for food would also have been affected. The widespread terrestrial tropical floras would likely not have reflected effects of a slight climatic warming. In late Mesozoic, the deep oceanic waters may have been triggered into releasing vast amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in a chain reaction of climatic warming and carbon dioxide expulsion. These conditions may be duplicated by human combustion of the fossil fuels and by forest clearing.     

Soil as a sink for atmospheric carbon monoxide

The rate of carbon monoxide oxidation by soil increased with increasing carbon monoxide concentration in the gas phase, in line with Michaelis-Menten kinetics. Rates of carbon monoxide oxidation were determined for 20 soils at 0 degrees , 10 degrees , 20 degrees , and 30 degrees C. The observed oxidation rates were used to calculate a global soil uptake rate of atmospheric carbon monoxide of 4.1 x 10(14) grams per year, which is slightly less than the amount of carbon monoxide believed to be produced annually as a result of fossil fuel combustion.     

Changing prospects for natural gas in the United States

Natural gas has emerged as one of the primary options for satisfying the need for environmentally clean energy: the resource base is large, it is the cleanest burning of the fossil fuels, and it can be used efficiently. New engine, combustion, and energy conversion technologies are emerging that will result in use of natural gas in electric generation, emissions reduction, transportation, and residential and commercial cooling.     

Acid rain: china, United States, and a remote area

The composition of precipitation in China is highly influenced by fossil fuel combustion and agricultural and cultural practices. Compared to the eastern United States, precipitation in China generally has higher concentrations of sulfate, ammonium, and calcium. Wet deposition rates of sulfur in China are 7 to 130 times higher than those in a remote area in the Southern Hemisphere. In many areas of the world, significant ecological changes have occurred in ecosystems that have acid deposition rates substantially less than those currently existing in China.     

Nitrogen Fixation in Lakes

Incorporation of N(15) into the fixed nitrogen fraction of natural lake waters has been studied for the purpose of estimating rates of primary nitrogen fixation. Experiments in Pymatuning Reservoir, Pennsylvania, in Lake Mendota, Wisconsin, and in two lakes in Alaska indicate that fixation occurs at measurable, sometimes high, rates.     

Electron spin resonance dating of animal and human bones

Ages of fossil bones were determined by electron spin resonance spectroscopy. The electron spin resonance signal is associated with lattice defects or trapped centers produced by natural radiation in the bones and gives a measure of the total dose of natural radiation, or the archeological dose. Archeological doses were determined for samples of known age from a variety of sites and used to estimate apparent average annual rates of natural radiation at the sites. The method has the advantage that the sample need not be ground or heated, and it should be useful for dating biological materials.     

Sedimentary polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: the historical record

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in three sections of a dated sediment core from Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, have been analyzed by gas chromatographic spectrometry. This historical information suggests that sedimentary polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, at least at this location, result primarily from the anthropogenic combustion of fossil fuels.     

Soil invertebrates disrupt carbon flow through fungal networks

Annual carbon flux through soil respiration is ten times greater than fossil fuel combustion, but its component parts are poorly understood because they are the product of complex multitrophic interactions between soil organisms. A major component of carbon flux from plants to soil occurs through networks of symbiotic arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Here, using 13CO2 pulse labeling, we show that natural densities of the numerically dominant fungal feeding invertebrate Protaphorura armata (order Collembola) reduces 13C enrichment of mycorrhizosphere respiration by 32%. Our findings emphasize the importance of multitrophic interactions in regulating respiration of recent plant photosynthate from soil.     

Oceanic Uptake of Fossil Fuel CO2: Carbon-13 Evidence

The delta(13)C value of the dissolved inorganic carbon in the surface waters of the Pacific Ocean has decreased by about 0.4 per mil between 1970 and 1990. This decrease has resulted from the uptake of atmospheric CO(2) derived from fossil fuel combustion and deforestation. The net amounts of CO(2) taken up by the oceans and released from the biosphere between 1970 and 1990 have been determined from the changes in three measured values: the concentration of atmospheric CO(2), the delta(13)C of atmospheric CO(2) and the delta(13)C value of dissolved inorganic carbon in the ocean. The calculated average net oceanic CO(2) uptake is 2.1 gigatons of carbon per year. This amount implies that the ocean is the dominant net sink for anthropogenically produced CO(2) and that there has been no significant net CO(2) released from the biosphere during the last 20 years.     

煤矿区土壤PAHs含量特征及来源解析

我国土壤PAHs污染日益严重且来源较为复杂,为探明煤矿区土壤PAHs的污染情况,确定其污染来源,本试验通过在煤矿区不同点位采集表层土壤样品,并以该区未受PAHs污染的土壤样品作为对照,用气相色谱—质谱方法测定土壤中16种多环芳烃(PAHs)的含量,结合比值法、聚类分析法及其复合分析方法探讨PAHs污染土壤的来源。结果表明:煤矿区各采样点农地土壤中萘(Naph)、苯并(g,h,i)苝(BghiP)、茚并(1,2,3-cd)芘(InP)、二苯并(a,h)蒽(DbA)、苯并(b)荧蒽(BbF)、荧蒽(Flt)、苯并(a)蒽(BaA)、(Chry)、芘(Pyr)、苯并(a)芘(BaP)和苯并(k)荧蒽(BkF)含量基本达到了对照的5倍以上,人为影响较大。在空间分布上,萘(Naph)、芴(Flu)、菲(Phe)、蒽(Anth)和二苯并(a,h)蒽(DbA)为分异型,而其余PAHs则属于强分异型,不同采样点之间PAHs空间差异较大。比值法解析PAHs的来源结果表明,该煤矿区农地土壤PAHs主要来源于焦化厂、钢厂等工厂加工的煤、石油等化石燃料燃烧以及交通车辆燃烧源的燃烧。聚类分析法结果表明,PAHs来源主要包括石油泄漏、化石燃料(石油和煤)燃烧的燃烧源以及交通尾气排放;通过两种方法联合将不同污染水平点位进行功能分类的基础上,对煤矿区不同方位上PAHs的来源进行了细化分析认为,煤矿区北部、中部、南部区域土壤PAHs可能多受石油等化石燃料燃烧影响,而西部偏北方向土壤PAHs可能更多受生物质及煤炭等燃料燃烧影响。     

全国多环芳烃年排放量估算

根据排放因子和相关排放活动的统计资料,估算了USEPA优先污染物清单中16种PAHs的全国年排放量。结果表明,1999年16种PAHs排放总量约为9799t,其中7种致癌性PAHs排放总量约2000t。主要排放源为家庭燃煤和炼焦,两者分别占总排放量的66.6%和30.6%。在75%置信区间上,估算结果的不确定性大致为正负一个数量级。PAHs排放谱中荧蒽、蒽、芘以及高环化合物比例显著高于北美大湖地区。     

Energy resources available to the United States, 1985 to 2000

Energy and the gross national product have grown hand in hand at 3 to 3(1/2) percent a year for almost 40 years. Our energy growth is slowing down and will sentially level off in the 1990's. Our production of oil and gas passed a peak in the early 1970's, and there is no resource base to justify predictions of increased yields. Coal is the only fossil fuel capable of increased production. There are serious doubts that our uranium resources can support a large light-water reactor program. Finding rates for petroleum, natural gas, and uranium are less than half of what they were 20 years ago.     

Phosphorus in cold-water corals as a proxy for seawater nutrient chemistry

Phosphorus is a key macronutrient being strongly enriched in the deep ocean as a result of continuous export and remineralization of biomass from primary production. We show that phosphorus incorporated within the skeletons of the cosmopolitan cold-water coral Desmophyllum dianthus is directly proportional to the ambient seawater phosphorus concentration and thus may serve as a paleo-oceanographic proxy for variations in ocean productivity as well as changes in the residence times and sources of deep-water masses. The application of this tool to fossil specimens from the Mediterranean reveals phosphorus-enriched bottom waters at the end of the Younger Dryas period.     

Free-radical oxidants in natural waters

Photooxidation of cumene (isopropylbenzene) and pyridine in dilute solution in natural waters gives products characteristic of reactions with alkylperoxy (RO(2).) and hydroxyl (HO.) radicals. On the basis of the rates of formation of the products, the average concentrations of RO(2). and HO. are estimated to be about 10(-9) and 10(-17) mole per liter, respectively. The concentration of RO(2). is large enough that, for some classes of reactive chemicals, oxidation can be an important process in natural waters.     

Chondrites: a trace fossil indicator of anoxia in sediments

The trace fossil Chondrites, a highly branched burrow system of unknown endobenthic deposit feeders, occurs in all types of sediment, including those deposited under anaerobic conditions. In some cases, such as the Jurassic Posidonienschiefer Formation of Germany, Chondrites occurs in black, laminated, carbonaceous sediment that was deposited in chemically reducing conditions. In other cases, such as numerous oxic clastic and carbonate units throughout the geologic column, Chondrites typically represents the last trace fossil in a biotutbation sequence. This indicates that the burrow system was produced deep within the sediment in the anaerobic zone below the surficial oxidized zone that was characterized by freely circulating and oxidizing pore waters.     

Preparing to capture carbon

Carbon sequestration from large sources of fossil fuel combustion, particularly coal, is an essential component of any serious plan to avoid catastrophic impacts of human-induced climate change. Scientific and economic challenges still exist, but none are serious enough to suggest that carbon capture and storage will not work at the scale required to offset trillions of tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the next century. The challenge is whether the technology will be ready when society decides that it is time to get going.     

Trace elements in tree rings: evidence of recent and historical air pollution

Annual growth rings from short-leaf pine trees in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park show suppressed growth and increased iron content between 1863 and 1912, a period of smelting activity and large sulfur dioxide releases at Copperhill, Tennessee, 88 kilometers upwind. Similar growth suppression and increases of iron and other metals were found in rings formed in the past 20 to 25 years, a period when regional fossil fuel combustion emissions increased about 200 percent. Metals concentrations in phloem and cambium are high, but whether they exceed toxic thresholds for these tissues is not known.