Ornamental stone potential areas for land use planning: a case study in a limestone massif from Portugal

ABSTRACT: Nowadays, the difficulties of the mining sector in accessing the territory are mostly related to inadequate land use plans. Mineral potential maps have become quite relevant for the land use planning authorities as a decision support tool. This work's goal is to present a methodology based on geological criteria, for the delimitation of potential areas for ornamental stones production in a limestone area of Portugal known as Macico Calcario Estremenho. This is one of the world's most important regions producing limestone blocks for ornamental purposes. The methodology, applied at a scale similar to the commonly used in land use planning, considers two main geological-based criteria for the definition of potential areas, namely the homogeneity criterion, related to the textural and chromatic homogeneity of the potentially productive lithologic units, and the dimension criterion, which refers to the thickness of the productive unit, to the volume of the deposit and to its spatial layout. Based on the criteria, two main types of potential areas for ornamental stones' production were delimited: specific areas, where the lithostratigraphic units demonstrate ornamental suitability at a very local scale due to highly appreciated particular features, and areas corresponding to the entire outcrop area of some of the lithostratigraphic units, which due to the resource volume are the most relevant potential areas.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Rochas ornamentais do Maciço Calcário Estremenho : breve caraterização dos recursos, dos centros de produção e delimitação preliminar de áreas potenciais

O Maciço Calcário Estremenho é uma unidade geomorfológica do país onde afloram em grande extensão rochas de idade jurássica. Particularmente as do Jurássico Médio têm sido alvo de intensa exploração de blocos para fins ornamentais. Tendo como base uma apresentação sucinta de todos os núcleos extrativos desta região do país, mas com ênfase nas particularidades respeitantes às unidades litostratigráficas alvo de exploração em cada um deles, apresenta-se uma demarcação preliminar de áreas potenciais para a produção deste tipo de recursos. Essas áreas, sendo de âmbito regional, servem de apoio à decisão política e estratégica de atuação no território e constituem base fundamental de trabalho a estudos de maior pormenor que visem determinar a sua efetiva aptidão a nível local

Potencialidades das rochas graníticas no concelho de Nisa

O presente texto visa dar a conhecer os resultados obtidos a respeito das potencialidades das rochas graníticas existentes na área do município. Estes resultados foram obtidos no âmbito de um trabalho mais vasto de inventariação, caracterização e avaliação das potencialidades em recursos minerais do concelho de Nisa, o qual foi objecto de um protocolo de colaboração com carácter pioneiro entre a autarquia e o LNEG

Portuguese ornamental stones

Portugal produces a great diversity of ornamental stones. Besides the internationally known white and pink marbles, also light cream limestones are produced, as well as grey, yellow and pink granites, and dark grey slates. From these, limestones are the most request variety today, especially by the Chinese market

Fish assemblages of shallow intertidal habitats of the Ria Formosa lagoon (South Portugal): influence of habitat and season

Fish assemblages in seagrass and unvegetated habitats located in shallow intertidal creeks within the saltmarsh area of the Ria Formosa coastal lagoon were sampled with a Riley push net at 3 sites on a monthly basis over a 1 yr period. The objective was to test if both habitats support similar fish assemblages in terms of abundance, diversity, assemblage structure, and size distribution, and to investigate how site and season affect the assemblages. Fish assemblages associated with these habitats were significantly different in terms of diversity, abundance, and assemblage structure. Seagrass supported a larger number of species and greater diversity, while unvegetated habitat supported greater fish numbers but only of a few species. The habitats were dominated by different groups of resident species that were responsible for major differences in fish assemblage structure between habitats. Pomatoschistus microps and young-of-the-year (YOY) Atherina presbyter dominated the unvegetated habitat, while seagrass was dominated by a diverse group of species, in particular syngnathids and small labrids, revealing different habitat preferences. Site and season were determinant factors conditioning the role of habitat in structuring fish assemblages. Distance between habitats, site elevation, and the amount of marsh drained affected fish assemblages in both habitats. Seasonal fluctuations in the presence and abundance of YOY from marine migrant and resident species were responsible for comparable changes in fish assemblage structure in both habitats. Both habitats provide a distinctive nursery area for different species, while common species reveal ontogenic distributional changes between habitats, where smaller fish appear first in unvegetated creeks

A DFT study on the adsorption of benzodiazepines to vermiculite surfaces

Widespread use of pharmaceuticals such as benzodiazepines has been resulting over the last decades in the dissemination of residues of these compounds in the environment, and such fact has been raising increasing concern. The generally low efficiencies of conventional wastewater treatment processes for the removal of this type of pollutants demands for the development of alternative or complementary water and wastewater treatment technologies, among which adsorption processes have been gaining popularity, provided that cheap efficient adsorbents are found. Clay materials have been one of the popular choices in this regard. In the present study, quantumchemical calculations have been performed by periodic DFT using the projector augmented-wave (PAW) method to characterize the interactions of two benzodiazepine molecules, alprazolam and diazepam, with a surface of clay mineral, vermiculite. It was observed that both molecules interact strongly with the vermiculite surface, both through a water-bridge binding and by cation-bridge provided by the exchangeable Mg2+ cations of the vermiculite surface. The results point to an interesting potential of vermiculite to be used efficiently as filter medium to remove these pollutants from water and wastewater

Monitoring and control system of discomfort in disability, bed rest people and surgical patients

Project aims to develop a system that allows to provide to the People with Special Needs(PSN) a relief to the level of the sensitive perception of discomfort, assuring greater independence,welfare, quality of life, prevention of illnesses/wounds, through the development of textile and polymers applications (cushions, mattresses and mattresses overlays) with functions of monitoring and control of pressure in the body's areas in contact with the support surfaces. In this group of PSN will be enclosed the people with serious motor limitations conditioning their mobility/deambulation, such as bed rest people, patients under effect of sedatives or anaesthesia during long surgeries (intra and post operative), patients and users in general of wheelchairs. These people have, for the most part of the cases, a commitment of sensitivity in the body's areas in contact with the support surfaces, or its motor capacity does not allow them to move regularly of position autonomously, as it would do a healthy person unconsciously. Then, insufficient sanguineous irrigation occurs as result of pressure exceeding too long the tissue capillary pressure depriving tissues of oxygen and essential nutrients, owing to ischemia and hypoxia, which then causes the pressure ulcers (PU) development