Behavior of silts mixed with sludge rich in diatoms and organic matter content

La alta generación de lodos, tanto de plantas potabilizadoras como depuradoras, es una problemática ambiental de gran interés en la actualidad. En la actualidad existe una tendencia de aprovechar estos lodos, bajo ciertas normativas que regulan su uso. Este trabajo presenta las principales propiedades físicas, químicas y mineralógicas de los lodos generados en la planta potabilizadora de agua ?Suquía? de la Ciudad de Córdoba, Argentina. Estos lodos, con un muy alto contenido de agua, en la actualidad se disponen con los residuos sólidos urbanos de la ciudad. El propósito de este trabajo es discutir las posibles alternativas de tratamiento de los lodos con el objeto de densificar los mismos y analizar su potencial uso como material inerte en mezclas de suelo-lodo. Las características estudiadas incluyen propiedades físicas, medición de granulometría, superficie específica, microscopía de barrido electrónico, análisis químicos y contenido de materia orgánica. En particular, se evalúa cómo la presencia de lodo afecta el comportamiento de limos recompactados con el objeto de poder construir terraplenes con este material. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que los lodos generados en la planta de tratamiento de agua pueden ser mezclados de manera segura con los suelos locales y utilizados en varias aplicaciones geotécnicas.he significant amount of sludge, even from water treatment or waste water treatment plants, is a important environmental issue. There is a tendency to reuse this material nowadays, under different regulations that restrict their usage. This work presents relevant physical, chemical and mechanical properties of the sludge from the “Suquía” water treatment plant in Cordoba city, Argentine. The sludge has a significant amount of water and, even that, is currently being disposed with municipal solid wastes. The purpose of this research is to present different alternative uses for the sludge and to analyze its use as inert material in soil-sludge mixtures. Characterization consists of measurements of physical properties, particle size, specific surface, scanning electronic microscope, chemical analysis and organic matter. Mixtures of silt with different amounts of the sludge material were tested to evaluate their potential use as a construction material for slides and embankments. Obtained results show that the sediments generated in the water treatment plant can be safely mixed with local soils and used for different geotechnical applications.Fil: Francisca, Franco Matias. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Bertolino, Silvana Raquel Alina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Camara, Osvaldo Raul. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola; ArgentinaFil: Van Der Velde, Guido Gustavo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Chemical and mineralogical characterization of Aguada Portezuelo pottery from Catamarca, north-western Argentina: PIXE, XRD and SEM-EDS studies applied to surface pre- and post-firing paints, slips and pastes

Particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE), X-ray diffraction (XRD), electron microprobe analysis (EDS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analytical techniques were used to characterize surface paints in pre- and post-fired Aguada Portezuelo decorated pottery. Surface paintings in black, white, red, brown, burgundy and ochre were analysed. Major, minor and trace elements were detected by PIXE, whereas XRD and SEM-EDS gave information on the main mineral phases and the characteristic morphology for each analysed pigment. The results obtained indicate that the main colour groups can be easily discriminated by PIXE, and they are characterized by only one pigment for each colour: hematite (red) and manganese mineral oxides (black), respectively, whereas white pigments are characterized by calcite, ghelenite and gypsum.Fil: de la Fuente, Guillermo Adrian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Catamarca. Universidad Nacional de Catamarca. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Catamarca; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Catamarca. Escuela de Arqueología; ArgentinaFil: Galván Josa, Víctor Martín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola; ArgentinaFil: Castellano, Gustavo Eugenio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola; ArgentinaFil: Limandri, Silvina Paola. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola; ArgentinaFil: Vera, Sergio David. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Catamarca. Universidad Nacional de Catamarca. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Catamarca; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Catamarca. Escuela de Arqueología; ArgentinaFil: Días, Johnny Ferraz. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul; BrasilFil: Suarez, Sergio Gabriel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Bernardi, Guillermo Carlos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Bertolino, Silvana Raquel Alina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola; Argentin

Clay supply for Aguada ordinary vessels from Piedras Blancas (4th to 12th centuries AC), Ambato Valley (Argentina)

The provenance of the raw materials used to produce ordinary ceramic vessel of the Aguada Culture (4th to 12th c. AC) from the Ambato Valley (Catamarca, Argentina) has been evaluated. Since there are no commercial clay deposits in the area, local clayish sources were selected as possible candidates. Samples were collected from Precambrian to Low Paleozoic metapelites, clays from fault gouges derived from crystalline basement rocks, epiclastic rocks and Quaternary loessic sediments that filled the valley and crop out close to the archaeological sites. The pottery sherds were found at Piedras Blancas highly hierarchical site. Mineralogical and geochemical studies were conducted by XRD and FE-SEM-EDS on both the pot sherds and the possible source materials. The latter were also preliminary evaluated on basic physical and technological properties; test specimens were heated at different temperatures (800, 900 and 1000 °C) to study their thermal behavior and their mineralogical and textural transformations. The physical properties of the metapelites, the clay gouges and the loessic sediments suggest that they are suitable for ceramic production. The epiclastic rocks are mostly bentonitic and could have been used as additives to improve the plasticity and other properties of other clay materials. The mineralogy of the sherds is quite homogeneous with no significant differences between technological classes E and D; most of them bear either phlogopite, hornblende and/or hypersthene and high temperature phases (diopside, spinel, mullite and cristobalite) also found in some clays under natural conditions or after firing at 1000 °C. Commonly used provenance geochemical ratios are relatively similar in all pottery samples and in the selected source rocks and comparable with typical UCC. Hence, according to those values, all samples are related to each other and indistinguishable except for one sample (B30) highly enriched in REE. Nearly all raw materials and ceramics are either enriched in Cs, Bi, Sb or in any of these elements. The trend of using local materials for the pottery is suggested by the mineralogy and the geochemistry.Fil: Bertolino, Silvana Raquel Alina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola; ArgentinaFil: Gastaldi, Marcos Roman. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Antropología de Córdoba. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades. Instituto de Antropología de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Zimmermann, Udo. University of Stavanger; NoruegaFil: Laguens, Andres Gustavo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Antropología de Córdoba. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades. Instituto de Antropología de Córdoba; Argentin

From the Mountains to the Yungas: Provenience and Distribution of Ceramics in Ambato Societies of the Andes of Argentina in the Fifth Century AD

This paper expands on an earlier one by Laguens et al. (2007) presented at the First Argentine Archaeometry Meeting, in Rosario, 2005. This version includes the analysis of new sherds and clay sources. The title makes a reference to the proximity of the Ambato valley to the yungas (mountainous subtropical forests).Fil: Giesso, Martín. University of Chicago; Estados UnidosFil: Laguens, Andres Gustavo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Antropología de Córdoba. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades. Instituto de Antropología de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Bertolino, Silvana Raquel Alina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola; ArgentinaFil: Boulanger, Matthew T.. Southern Methodist University; Estados UnidosFil: Glascock, Michael D. University of Missouri; Estados Unido

Provenance and composition of unusually chrome and nickel-rich bucket-shaped pottery from Rogaland (Southwestern Norway)

We report results from FE-SEM-EDS, geochemical, mineralogical analyses and Raman spectroscopy of pottery of bucket-shaped ceramic from Rogaland (southwestern Norway) dated between the 5th and 6th Century. The study reveals a very rare pottery composition including asbestos-group minerals and an unusual enrichment in compatible elements like Cr (8-27. × Post Archean average shale (PAS), McLennan et al., 2006), Ni (2-8. × normal shale) and Co (2-3. × PAS). X-Rray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy could pinpoint that Ni is introduced by specific Ni-rich talc mineral and chlorite minerals and Cr occurs in a rare Cr-rich talc, and possibly in a Cr-chlorite, these minerals are the most abundant in the pottery, which is supported by strong enrichment in Mg (10-20. × PAS). The addition of Mg, Cr, Ni and Co and other compatible trace elements is to our current knowledge not caused by anthropogenic activity but related to the used materials, which are alteration products of mafic and ultramafic rocks or genetically related to mafic and ultramafic rocks. Rocks of this type are exposed in vicinity of the sampling areas in a region called Karmøy, hosting a world famous ophiolite complex, which is identified as the major source for the mafic and ultramafic component, as the next succession of a similar composition is far further north located in Norway and a number of rock types on Karmøy matches the chemical composition of the pottery. The here reported composition is spectacular and extremely rare - if ever found - in pottery. Our study shows that unusual material sources have been used in pottery production, and this opens for discussion whether the materials were deliberately selected by the manufacturers, thereby expressing a specific social function, in a time period where more functional clay types and additives, and certainly functional and sufficient for use in pottery, where abundant in areas of Rogaland closer to where the pots were found.Fil: Zimmermann, Udo. Universidad de Stavanger; NoruegaFil: Kristoffersen, Elna Siv. Universidad de Stavanger; NoruegaFil: Fredriksen, Per Ditlef. University of Oslo; Noruega. University of Cape Town; SudáfricaFil: Bertolino, Silvana Raquel Alina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola; ArgentinaFil: Andò, Sergio. University of Milano-Bicocca; ItaliaFil: Bersani, Danilo. Università di Parma; Itali

Comportamiento mecánico de limos loéssicos mezclados con lodos de plantas de tratamiento de agua con altos contenidos de diatomeas y materia orgánica

La alta generación de lodos, tanto de plantas potabilizadoras como depuradoras, es una problemática de gran interés en la actualidad. En la actualidad existe una tendencia de aprovechar estos lodos, bajo ciertas normativas que regulan un manejo sustentable. Este trabajo presenta las principales propiedades físicas, químicas y mineralógicas de los lodos generados en la planta potabilizadora de agua “Suquía” de la Ciudad de Córdoba, Argentina. Estos lodos, con un muy alto contenido de agua, son un residuo cuyo potencial valor requiere ser estudiado. En este trabajo se discuten las posibles alternativas de tratamiento de los lodos con el objeto de densificar los mismos y se analiza su potencial como material inerte en mezclas de suelo-lodo. Las características estudiadas incluyen propiedades físicas, químicas, mineralógicas y geotécnicas. En particular, se evalúa cómo la presencia de lodo afecta el comportamiento de limos recompactados con el objeto de poder construir terraplenes con este material. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que los lodos generados en la planta de tratamiento de agua pueden ser mezclados de manera segura con los suelos locales y utilizados en varias aplicaciones geotécnicas.The generation and disposal of sludge from water treatment and waste water treatment plants pay the attention of many researchers and practitioners. There is a tendency to reuse this material in many places around the world. This work presents relevant physical and mechanical properties of the sludge from a water treatment plant in Cordoba city, Argentine. The sludge has a significant amount of water and, even that, is currently being disposed with municipal solid wastes. The purpose of this research is to characterize the main physicochemical properties and mechanical behavior in order to find alternative uses for this material. Characterization consists of measurements of particle size, specific surface, scanning electronic microscope, chemical analysis, organic matter and water content (direct and indirect measurements). Then, mixtures of the local soil with different contents of the sludge material were tested to evaluate their potential use as a construction material for slides and embankments. Obtained results show that the sediments generated in the water treatment plant can be safely mixed with local soils and used for many geotechnical applications.Fil: Francisca, Franco Matias. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Bertolino, Silvana Raquel Alina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Camara, Osvaldo Raul. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Van de Velde Blandón, Germán José. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; Argentin

Clay minerals: Properties and applications to dermocosmetic products and perspectives of natural raw materials for therapeutic purposes—A review

Clay minerals are layered materials with a number of peculiar properties, which find many relevant applications in various industries. Since they are easily found everywhere, they are particularly attractive due to their economic viability. In the cosmetic industry, clay minerals are often used as excipients to stabilize emulsions or suspensions and to modify the rheological behavior of these systems. They also play an important role as adsorbents or absorbents, not only in cosmetics but also in other industries, such as pharmaceuticals. This reviewer believes that since this manuscript is presented as covering topical applications that include pharmaceuticals, some types of clay minerals should be considered as a potential material to be used as drug delivery systems. We review several applications of clay minerals to dermocosmetic products, relating them to the underlying properties of these materials and exemplifying with a number of clay minerals available in the market. We also discuss the use of clay minerals in topically-applied products for therapeutic purposes, specially for skin treatment and protection.Fil: Moraes, Jemima Daniela Dias. Federal University of São Paulo, Graduate Program in Translational Medicine, Medicine Department; BrasilFil: Bertolino, Silvana Raquel Alina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola; ArgentinaFil: Cuffini, Silvia Lucia. Federal University of São Paulo, Graduate Program in Material Science Engineering; BrasilFil: Ducart, Diego Fernando. University of Campinas - Unicamp, Institute of de Geosciences; BrasilFil: Bretzke, Pedro Eriberto. University of Vale do Itajaí, Graduate Program in Pharmaceutical Science, Nucleus of Chemical-Pharmaceutical Investigations; BrasilFil: Leonardi, Gislaine Ricci. University of Campinas, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Science; Brasil. Federal University of São Paulo, Graduate Program in Translational Medicine, Medicine Department; Brasi

Temperature effects on rock engineering properties and rock-fluid chemistry in opal-CT-bearing chalk

In this study, eight tri-axial tests on Cretaceous age outcrop chalk from Aalborg have been performed systematically by injecting MgCl2 for the first time at different temperatures (25, 60, 92, 110 and 130 °C) and for comparison, NaCl at 130 °C. Whole-rock geochemistry, stable isotope measurements, pycnometry, Field Emission Gun Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and measurements of Specific Surface Area (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller theory (N2)) were applied to analyse unflooded and flooded cores. Based on analyses of changes in brine composition, mineralogy, specific surface area, solid density, porosity and permeability some conclusions can be drawn on temperature effects on rock engineering properties and rock-fluid chemistry. The MgCl2 flooded cores show systematically higher creep rates at higher temperature and the cores tested at 25 and 60 °C show similar creep rates as the two NaCl flooded cores at 130 °C. All fluid-rock interactions were more pronounced at higher temperature. After flooding with MgCl2 at 110 and 130 °C newly formed magnesite is observed. In the cores tested at 25, 60 and 92 °C magnesite crystals have not been positively identified, but minute increases in MgO in whole-rock geochemistry analyses are seen. Si4+ originating from the dissolution of silica bearing phases (mainly diagenetic opal-CT), has taken part in the re-precipitation of Si-Mg-bearing minerals during MgCl2 injection from 25 to 130 °C, leading to an increase of the specific surface area. This is partly balanced by opal-CT dissolution, which should lower the specific surface area. The flaky Si-Mg-bearing minerals, covering significant portions of the pore surfaces and throats are the main drivers to reduce permeability in cores flooded at high temperatures. Additionally, in NaCl flooded cores where mineralogical changes are minute, the dissolution of parts of the existing opal-CT has lowered the SSA. At high temperatures, the following chemical changes must be carefully acknowledged when porosity reduction is calculated: calcite and opal-CT dissolution and precipitation of new minerals, particularly Mg-bearing minerals. The presence of opal-CT strongly influences the mineralogical alterations in flooded cores, hence the geo-mechanical evolution.Fil: Minde, Mona W.. University of Stavanger; NoruegaFil: Wang, Wenxia. University of Stavanger; NoruegaFil: Madland, Merete V.. University of Stavanger; NoruegaFil: Zimmermann, Udo. University of Stavanger; NoruegaFil: Korsnes, Reidar I.. University of Stavanger; NoruegaFil: Bertolino, Silvana Raquel Alina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; ArgentinaFil: Andersen, Pål Ø.. University of Stavanger; Norueg

Comparative Study of Five Outcrop Chalks Flooded at Reservoir Conditions: Chemo-mechanical Behaviour and Profiles of Compositional Alteration

This study presents experimental results from a flooding test series performed at reservoir conditions for five high-porosity Cretaceous onshore chalks from Denmark, Belgium and the USA, analogous to North Sea reservoir chalk. The chalks are studied in regard to their chemo-mechanical behaviour when performing tri-axial compaction tests while injecting brines (0.219 mol/L MgCl 2 or 0.657 mol/L NaCl) at reservoir conditions for 2–3 months (T = 130 ∘C ; 1 PV/d). Each chalk type was examined in terms of its mineralogical and chemical composition before and after the mechanical flooding tests, using an extensive set of analysis methods, to evaluate the chalk- and brine-dependent chemical alterations. All MgCl 2-flooded cores showed precipitation of Mg-bearing minerals (mainly magnesite). The distribution of newly formed Mg-bearing minerals appears to be chalk-dependent with varying peaks of enrichment. The chalk samples from Aalborg originally contained abundant opal-CT, which was dissolved with both NaCl and MgCl 2 and partly re-precipitated as Si-Mg-bearing minerals. The Aalborg core injected with MgCl 2 indicated strongly increased specific surface area (from 4.9 m 2/g to within 7–9 m 2/g). Mineral precipitation effects were negligible in chalk samples flooded with NaCl compared to MgCl 2. Silicates were the main mineralogical impurity in the studied chalk samples (0.3–6 wt%). The cores with higher SiO 2 content showed less deformation when injecting NaCl brine, but more compaction when injecting MgCl 2-brine. The observations were successfully interpreted by mathematical geochemical modelling which suggests that the re-precipitation of Si-bearing minerals leads to enhanced calcite dissolution and mass loss (as seen experimentally) explaining the high compaction seen in MgCl 2-flooded Aalborg chalk. Our work demonstrates that the original mineralogy, together with the newly formed minerals, can control the chemo-mechanical interactions during flooding and should be taken into account when predicting reservoir behaviour from laboratory studies. This study improves the understanding of complex flow reaction mechanisms also relevant for field-scale dynamics seen during brine injection.Fil: Andersen, P.Ø.. University of Stavanger; NoruegaFil: Wang, W.. University of Stavanger; NoruegaFil: Madland, M.V.. University of Stavanger; NoruegaFil: Zimmermann, U.. University of Stavanger; NoruegaFil: Korsnes, R. I.. University of Stavanger; NoruegaFil: Bertolino, Silvana Raquel Alina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; ArgentinaFil: Minde, M.. University of Stavanger; Noruega. International Research Institute of Stavanger; NoruegaFil: Schulz, B.. TU Bergakademie Freiberg; AlemaniaFil: Gilbricht, S.. TU Bergakademie Freiberg; Alemani