Chemistry Of Aquatic Systems Local And Global Perspectives

Aquatic systems play a salient role in the complex processes of energy and matter exchange between the geosphere and the atmosphere. For example, reactions taking place in cloud water droplets can substantially alter the atmospheric budget and chemistry of trace gases; pollution induced weathering reactions at water/soil interfaces can affect the availability of nutrients and increase the concentration of potentially toxic metals in groundwaters. Moreover, the inextricable links between the water cycle, the geosphere and the atmosphere ensure that apparently localized environmental problems have increasingly impacts in other parts of the world. To identify local-to-global scale variables associated with environmental changes, a focus must be placed on the recognition of processes, rather than a continued reliance on monitoring state variables. However, in heterogeneous aquatic systems, small scale aspects of a process under observation may not be summed directly to obtain regional estimates because of process nonlinearities with change in scale. To understand this, the integrated use of measurements across a range of scales is required.

The authoritative introduction to natural water chemistry THIRD EDITION Now in its updated and expanded Third Edition, Aquatic Chemistry remains the classic resource on the essential concepts of natural water chemistry. Designed for both self-study and classroom use, this book builds a solid foundation in the general principles of natural water chemistry and then proceeds to a thorough treatment of more advanced topics. Key principles are illustrated with a wide range of quantitative models, examples, and problem-solving methods. Major subjects covered include: * Chemical Thermodynamics * Solid-Solution Interface and Kinetics * Trace Metals * Acids and Bases * Kinetics of Redox Processes * Dissolved Carbon Dioxide * Photochemical Processes * Atmosphere-Water Interactions * Kinetics at the Solid-Water * Metal Ions in Aqueous Solution Interface * Precipitation and Dissolution * Particle-Particle Interaction * Oxidation and Reduction * Regulation of the Chemical * Equilibria and Microbial Mediation Composition of Natural Waters

Metal Metabolism in Aquatic Environments is a synthesis of recent developments in the field of metal ecotoxicology and features a number of contemporary issues arising from the interaction of metals and biota, such as pathways of assimilation and food chain transfer, metal accumulation and detoxification in humans and biotransformation of elements such as mercury and arsenic.

The third edition of this classic in the field is completely updated and revised with approximately 30% new content so as to include the latest developments. The handbook and ready reference comprehensively covers nuclear and radiochemistry in a well-structured and readily accessible manner, dealing with the theory and fundamentals in the first half, followed by chapters devoted to such specific topics as nuclear energy and reactors, radiotracers, and radionuclides in the life sciences. The result is a valuable resource for both newcomers as well as established scientists in the field.

This book describes advances in this new, fast developing science, which seeks to decipher fundamental mechanisms ruling the behaviour in water, soils, atmosphere, food and living organisms of toxic metals, fossil fuels, pesticides and other organic pollutants. Sections on eco-toxicology, green chemistry, and analytical chemistry round out this thorough survey of conditions and analytical techniques in an emerging specialty.

The Earth system consists of subsystems that include the atmosphere, hydrosphere (water), geosphere (rocks, minerals), biosphere, and humans. In order to understand these subsystems and their interactions, it is essential to clarify the mass transfer mechanism, geochemical cycle, and influence of human activity on the natural environment. This book presents fundamental theories (thermodynamics, kinetics, mass balance model, coupling models such as the kinetics-fluid flow model, the box model, and others) concerning mechanisms in weathering, formation of hydrothermal ore deposits, hydrothermal alteration, formation of groundwater quality, and the seawater system. The interaction between fluids (atmosphere, water) and solid phases (rocks, minerals) occurs both in low-temperature and also in high-temperature systems. This book considers the complex low-temperature cycle with the high-temperature cycle, a combination that has not been dealt with in previous books concerning Earth systems. Humanity is a small part of the biosphere; however, human activities greatly influence Earth’s surface environments (atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, soils, rocks). Thus, the influences of humans on other subsystems, particularly mass transfer in the deep underground geologic environment composed of host rocks and groundwater, are discussed in relation to high-level nuclear waste geologic disposal and CO2 underground sequestration—topics that have not been included in other books on environmental science.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, our nation began to grapple with the legacy of past disposal practices for toxic chemicals. With the passage in 1980 of the Comprehensive Envir- mental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as Sup- fund, it became the law of the land to remediate these sites. The U. S. Department of Defense (DoD), the nation’s largest industrial organization, also recognized that it too had a legacy of contaminated sites. Historic operations at Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps facilities, ranges, manufacturing sites, shipyards, and depots had resulted in widespread contamination of soil, groundwater, and sediment. While Superfund began in 1980 to focus on remediation of heavily contaminated sites largely abandoned or neglected by the private sector, the DoD had already initiated its Installation Restoration Program in the mid-1970s. In 1984, the DoD began the Defense Environmental Restoration Program (DERP) for contaminated site assessment and remediation. Two years later, the U. S. Congress codified the DERP and directed the Secretary of Defense to carry out a concurrent program of research, development, and demonstration of innovative remediation technologies. As chronicled in the 1994 National Research Council report, “Ranking Hazardous-Waste Sites for Remedial Action,” our early estimates on the cost and suitability of existing techn- ogies for cleaning up contaminated sites were wildly optimistic. Original estimates, in 1980, projected an average Superfund cleanup cost of a mere $3.