Contamination of seabed sediments around a shipyard in the Adriatic Sea (Ugljan island)

Geochemical, mineralogical and grain size data from sediment cores in the Lamjana Bay shipyard were obtained to determine the extent of contamination due to ship refits. The concentration and distribution of Ni, Pb, Cr, Zn, Cu, Mn, Cd, As and Fe in 9 sediment samples were measured. No increase of the analysed elements above natural background levels was detected, but contamination was not excluded due to possible dilution of seabed sediment by quartz sand used in process of abrasive blasting.</p

Ecological Risk Assessment of Jarosite Waste Disposal

Jarosite waste, originating from zinc extraction industry, is considered hazardous due to the presence and the mobility of toxic metals that it contains. Its worldwide disposal in many tailing damps has become a major ecological concern. Three different methods, namely modified Synthetic Precipitation Leaching Procedure (SPLP), three-stage BCR sequential extraction procedure and Potential Ecological Risk Index (PERI) Method were used to access the ecological risk of jarosite waste disposal in Mitrovica Industrial Park, Kosovo. The combination of these methods can effectively identify the comprehensive and single pollution levels of heavy metals such as Zn, Pb, Cd, Cu, Ni and As present in jarosite waste. Moreover, the great positive relevance between leaching behavior of heavy metals and F1 fraction was supported by principal component analysis (PCA). PERI results indicate that Cd showed a very high risk class to the environment. The ecological risk of heavy metals declines in the following order: Cd>Zn>Cu>Pb>Ni>As

Geochemical Investigation of Tar Balls Collected on a Beach on Žirje Island (Croatia) Using Petroleum Biomarkers

Tar balls are frequently reported as indicators of the extent of marine pollution owing to spill incidents of crude oil or petroleum products. Representative tar ball samples collected on a beach on Žirje Island, Croatia, were geochemically characterised by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC/MS) in order to identify correlations between them and investigate potential sources. The chemical analysis of petroleum biomarkers, hopanes, and steranes, detected by gas chromatography/ mass spectrometry (GC/MS) generates information of great importance to environmental forensic investigations in terms of determining the source of spilled oil, differentiating and correlating oils, and monitoring the degradation process and weathering state of oils under a wide variety of conditions. The chromatographic signatures of hopane and sterane biomarkers in tar ball samples from Žirje Island were compared. Characteristic hopane and sterane fingerprints show that all the tar ball samples originated from crude oil spills. This study indicates that, the major source of tar balls was likely to be the same type of crude oil as evident from the petroleum biomarker fingerprints

Vulnerability of the karst area related to potentially toxic elements

Soil samples from 31 locations in the Una river spring catchment were subject to chemical extraction analyses. The data were presented as distribution maps of potentially toxic elements (Al, Cu, Mn, Pb and Zn) in the surface soil of the area. To evaluate the vulnerability of the immediate spring zone of the karst catchment, the vulnerability map was derived from the application of the PI methodology proposed by the European COST Action 620. The PI method used to produce the vulnerability map takes into account the protective cover (P) and the infiltration conditions (I). It is based on the origin-pathway-target model. The π-factor (π = P ´ I) describes the vulnerability in the area, subdivided into 5 classes: π-factor in the range 0-1 implies an area of extreme vulnerability, while π-factor in the range 4-5 implies an area of very low vulnerability. The extraction procedure for the elements Al, Cu, Mn, Pb and Zn, has been applied in order to determine the potential mobility and redistribution of elements that could influence the groundwater and affect its quality. The applied extraction was the second step of the sequential procedure proposed by TESSIER et al. (1979), i.e. extraction with 1 mol dm-3 CH3COONa/CH3COOH buffer (pH 5). The results provide information on the potential mobility of the studied elements, indicating the possibility of their mobilization through changes in pH. Lead shows the greatest amount of mobility, with a mean of 9% (max. 16%) extracted under an acidic condition. Manganese follows with a mean of 5% (max. 11%) and zinc, copper and aluminium show less than 1% (mean) mobility. The vulnerability map of the karst area was produced in order to predict potential problem areas of karst aquifers. The Una spring catchment area presents generally low to moderate vulnerability; 8% of the studied area can be considered as extremely vulnerable according to the PI-methodology. Based on these data it was possible to delineate areas with a low protection cover i.e. combining the vulnerability map of the karst area with the distribution maps of potentially toxic elements, areas considered extremely vulnerable could be identified.</p

Unsanitary Landfill Fires as a Source of a PCDD/Fs Contamination

The aim of this study was to determine whether a combustion process (open burning) on an unsanitary landfill produces polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), for which several media were analysed (smoked air, landfill soil, and lake sediment). The concentration of PCDD/Fs detected in the air increased over 4000 times during the landfill fire, from 0.480 fg m–3 to 1940.4 fg m–3 or expressed as Toxic Equivalency (TEQ) from 0.004 fg TEQ m–3 to 25.72 fg TEQ m–3. Increased values of PCDD/Fs were also determined in the soil from the landfill site (2597.6 ng kg-1, 48.11 ng TEQ kg-1), and the influence of combustion process occurring on the landfill was also registered in the nearby lake sediment (23.17 ng kg–1, 0.03 ng TEQ kg–1). Due to the high sedimentation rate (6.4 mm y–1), a significant contaminant dilution in the lake sediment can be expected. The results of this preliminary study point to the need of implementing a continuous long-term monitoring of PCDD/PCDFs in the landfill surrounding environment

Kritične mineralne sirovine – europski i svjetski tokovi sirovina u službi ubrzanog tehnološkog razvoja

Suvremeni razvoj raznih grana proizvodne djelatnosti kao i napredak tehnologije zahtijevaju odgovarajuću opskrbu mineralnim sirovinama. Pojedine sirovine posebno su tražene u proizvodnji i razvoju novih proizvoda, a njihova ograničena opskrba ili čak prekid dobave mogu ozbiljno ugroziti proizvodnju i daljnji razvoj, ugroziti sigurnost radnih mjesta te poljuljati lokalno gospodarstvo. Stoga je zadovoljavajuća i pravovremena opskrba ključnim sirovinama nužan preduvjet svakodnevnog funkcioniranja suvremenih gospodarskih tokova, a time i bitna odrednica strateškog planiranja svake države. Nedovoljna dostatnost pojedine sirovine na tržištu može biti posljedica nedostatne domaće proizvodnje i ovisnosti o uvozu s udaljenih tržišta, ali i prekida opskrbe uslijed ekonomskih, prirodnih i geopolitičkih faktora. Ti čimbenici također utječu na čestu fluktuaciju cijena sirovine, koja se dalje odražava na planiranje proizvodnje, cijenu konačnog proizvoda, kao i na poremećaje u proizvodnji ako volatilnost cijena ugrožava zacrtane proizvodne i razvojne ciljeve, a svakako može utjecati i na smanjenje konkurentnosti pojedinih industrija na tržištu. Sirovine nužne za proizvodnju, a nedostatne na domaćem tržištu, podložne čestim promjenama u dostupnosti i cijeni te povećanog rizika u opskrbi, smatraju se kritičnim sirovinama (European Commission Communication, 2011). Često se kod ove problematike naizmjence koristi izraz „kritične sirovine“ i „kritične mineralne sirovine“, budući da mineralne sirovine svojom brojnošću i obujmom proizvodnje čine najveći dio kritičnih sirovina