新型抗旱保水剂问世

一种能够提高干旱、半干旱地区植物栽培成活率，集促进植物生根、持水保肥、营养缓释等功效于一身的抗旱保水剂日前研制成功。据专家介绍。这一抗旱保水剂是中国地质科学院矿产资源研究所与中国农业科学院土壤肥料研究所合作，利用内蒙古鄂尔多斯市杭锦旗黏土资源（杭锦2号土），经过4年多的潜心研究和反复实验开发研制而成的。以小麦为例。是对照组的1.5-1.8倍。可使玉米果穗秃顶率下降1-2.8个百分点，穗粒数增加25-60粒，且长势明显优于施用其他复合肥。     

NKK开展土壤净化技术

日本NKK公司准备开展土壤改善业务。该公司已签订了有关使用美国BioGenesis Enterprises公司开发的工艺技术的协议。据NKK报道，该工艺使用高压水粉碎土壤，并应用生物降解表面活性化学试剂，来消除土壤中的有害物质。对基本生产流程的部分设备重新配置，该系统就能重新组合用于去除重金属、挥发性有机化合物、多氯联苯、石油污染物和Dioxins。该车载装置能去除小于70μm的土壤污染物，日均清除190m^3土壤。据BioGenesis报道，这项技术能去除85％－99％的土壤污染物，且剩余部分可采用生物降解作用再净化，去污成本从每吨40美元到每吨200美元。一旦净化作业完毕，就可将处理后的土壤送回其原处。     

等温微量热法在土壤微生物研究方面的进展

土壤微生物是陆地生态系统中分解者亚系统的主要组成部分, 参与了包括有机质降解、营养转化、 植物生长的促进或抑制以及各种土壤物理过程在内的一系列反应活动. 土壤微生物则是土壤质量重要的生物指标, 可以用来监控土壤质量的变化. 等温微量热法是一种简便、快速地测量微生物活性的方法, 在土壤微生物代谢热效应的研究领域中广泛应用. 就等温微量热法在土壤微生物活性中的研究进展进行综述: 等温微量热法的简介, 微量热方法与传统方法的比较, 等温微量热法在各种外界环境和土壤条件影响下的土壤微生物活性研究中的应用, 并对等温微量热法在土壤微生物和其它方面的研究进行了展望.     

Environmental impacts from mining at Taojiang Mn ore deposit, central Hunan, China

The Taojiang Mn ore deposit was exploited in the early 1960s, and waste rocks were developed since then. Because the Mn ores were hosted within the metal-enriched black shales （Peng et al., 2004）, the continuous mining has led to the exposure of an immense quality of black shales, which might cause serious impacts on environments. The present study deals with this environmental issue with samples from the waste rocks, and from the surrounding soils and surface water. The mineralogy of the waste rock was studied using EMPA, then a large number of elements in all waste rock, soil, and water samples were analyzed at a wide range of concentrations with high accuracy using an Elan6000 ICP-MS machine at Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The waste rock is composed mostly of black shales, with minor Mn carbonates. Both black shales and Mn carbonates of the waste rock contain many sulfide minerals, mainly pyrite, with minor galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, and others. The waste rocks are enriched in many metals including Sc, V, Cr, Co, Ni, Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Pb, Th, U, Mo, Sb, Sn, Tl, and others, and the metals are mostly hosted within the sulfides. Weathering of waste rocks might cause emission of the following metals： V, Cd, Ni, Th, U, Mo, Sb, Tl, Sc, Cr, Cu, Zn, Sn, and minor Co, and Pb. The surrounding soils are highly enriched in Cr, Co, Cu, Zn, Mn, Mo, Cd, Tl, and Pb, with the enrichment factors of 2.67.3.8, 7.26, 7.27, 8.2, 5.7, 13, and 5.4, respectively. The element ratios （Rb/Cs, Fe/Mn, Nb/Zr, Hf/Zr, and Ba/Sr） and REE distribution patterns of the soils are similar to those of the waste rocks and bedrocks.     

Selenium contamination in the Colorado River Basin, western USA： Remediation by leaching and nanof＇dtration membranes

Selenium （Se） is an essential micronutrient to biota, but can become a potent toxicant at elevated concentrations. The natural sources and chemical properties of Se species make the boundary between deficiency and toxicity narrow for some biota, with both phenomena common around the globe. Large areas of farmland in the Colorado River Basin （CRB） generate salinized drainage water with Se concentrations much higher than 5 μg/L, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chronic water-quality criterion for the protection of aquatic life. We have carried out detailed field and laboratory studies to investigate Se geochemistry and remediation in two of these areas： the Middle Green River Basin, Utah and the Salton Sea Basin, California, located respectively in the Upper and Lower CRB. Results from these and other studies show that approximately 90% of the dissolved Se in the Colorado River and its tributaries originally is derived from the Upper Cretaceous Mancos Shale and equivalent pyritic marine units that outcrop in the Upper CRB. Selenium is mobilized commonly by biogeochemical oxidation of this pyritic shale and is concentrated mainly as selenate （SeO4^2-） in soils and agricultural drainage water of dry climates by evaporation. Minor （0%-5%） amounts of Se are present as the selenite species （HSeO3^-） and （SEO3^2-）, but these species and the more reduced species, elemental Se （SeO） and selenide （Se^2-）, have much lower solubility and/or have high sorptive affinity towards organic matter, clay minerals and iron oxyhydroxides. The concentration of dissolved Se （-2.5 μg/L） and salinity in the Lower Colorado River water are among the highest of the world major rivers. Because of low precipitation （7 cm/a） and extreme evapotranspiration （-1.8 m/a） rates in the Salton Sea Basin, California, Se values in irrigation water imported from the Colorado River increase to 〉300 μg/L in drainage wastewater. Removal of Se from contaminated wastewater by nanofiltration membranes was demonstrated in laboratory and pilot-scale field experiments.     

美国的湿地概念和保护立法

依据美国鱼类与野生生物服务局提出的湿地概念,涵盖三个属性:①水文学属性,洪涝或土壤饱和度;②植物生长属性,适于在水、土壤或氧气偶尔充足的介质中生长的植物;③土壤属性,植物生长期土壤上层、特别是植物根围区(水生土壤)产生缺氧条件的长期饱和土壤。根据植物和土壤条件湿地划分三大类:①水生植物与含氧土壤区域,如沼泽地,泥沼地;②没有土壤但有水生植