О ГЕОЛОГИЧЕСКОЙ КОНЦЕПЦИИ ГЕНЕЗИСА ВОДЫ

The heart of the geological concept of the terrestrial water origin is based on the idea of internal planetary water resources. Initial ("juvenile") water could only be chemically bounded to a solid protoplanetary substance and released as sub-molecular and molecular particles of water at high temperatures (450–1500 °C) and pressures (0.3–≤120 GPa) mainly in upper mantle, asthenosphere and be higher in the crust-mantle layer. The primary surface waters (protoocean) were characterized by high mineralization but they were the sources of fresh water due to natural distillation by means of evaporation from their surface and condensation in the cooling conditions of the planet. The water delivery to the Earth in the composition of asteroid and comet substances is considered as an additional and less significant water supply.Основу геологической концепции происхождения воды на Земле составляют представления о ее внутренних, планетарных источниках. Первичная ("ювенильная") вода могла быть только химически связанной в твердом протопланетном веществе и выделяться в виде субмолекулярных частиц и молекулярной воды в условиях высоких температур (450–1500 °С) и давлений (0,3–≤120 ГПа) преимущественно в подастеносферной мантии, собственно астеносфере и выше, в коромантийном слое. Первичные поверхностные водопроявления (протоокеан) отличались высокой минерализацией, однако служили источником пресных вод вследствие естественной дистилляции – испарения с их поверхности и конденсации в условиях остывающей планеты. Поступление воды на Землю в составе вещества астероидов и комет рассматривается как дополнительное и менее значимое по массе

ГАЛОГЕНЕЗ В ПРИПЯТСКОМ ПАЛЕОРИФТЕ

The problem of halogenesis in the Pripyat intercontinental paleorift is considered for the first time in a new fashion. At least, three periods of existence of arid climate and evaporate basins of seawater condensation within paleorift boundaries have been established. However, in none of them the concentration of water reached the salinity degree, at which the precipitation of rock salt begins. The intense halogenesis and accumulation of thick salt formations took place at the early (D3 2 lv–D3 2 dm) and mature (D3 2 lb–D3 2 or) stages of development of rift graben and explosive volcanism within it; this testifies to a close genetic relationship between these two phenomena. Впервые по-новому рассматривается проблема галогенеза в Припятском внутриконтинентальном палеорифте. Установлены, по меньшей мере, три периода существования в его пределах аридного климата и эвапоритовых бассейнов сгущения морской воды. Однако ни в одном из них концентрирование воды не достигало степени сгущения, при которой начинается выпадение каменной соли. Интенсивный галогенез и формирование мощных солевых толщ имели место на ранней (D3 2 lv–D3 2 dm) и зрелой (D3 2 lb–D3 2 or) стадиях развития рифтового грабена и эксплозивного вулканизма в его пределах, что свидетельствует о тесной генетической взаимосвязи между этими двумя явлениями.

Major Factors Affecting Incidence of Childhood Thyroid Cancer in Belarus after the Chernobyl Accident: Do Nitrates in Drinking Water Play a Role?

One of the major health consequences of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident in 1986 was a dramatic increase in incidence of thyroid cancer among those who were aged less than 18 years at the time of the accident. This increase has been directly linked in several analytic epidemiological studies to iodine-131 (131I) thyroid doses received from the accident. However, there remains limited understanding of factors that modify the 131Irelated risk. Focusing on post-Chernobyl pediatric thyroid cancer in Belarus, we reviewed evidence of the effects of radiation, thyroid screening, and iodine deficiency on regional differences in incidence rates of thyroid cancer. We also reviewed current evidence on content of nitrate in groundwater and thyroid cancer risk drawing attention to high levels of nitrates in open well water in several contaminated regions of Belarus, i.e. Gomel and Brest, related to the usage of nitrogen fertilizers. In this hypothesis generating study, based on ecological data and biological plausibility, we suggest that nitrate pollution may modify the radiationrelated risk of thyroid cancer contributing to regional differences in rates of pediatric thyroid cancer in Belarus. Analytic epidemiological studies designed to evaluate joint effect of nitrate content in groundwater and radiation present a promising avenue of research and may provide useful insights into etiology of thyroid cancer

Geological-geochemical inconsistency of gas-shale boom

The so-called shale gas deposits of the USA were found to be both spatially, and structurally- geologically correlated with oil and gas basins containing high heat and energy resources. Considering an extremely low native (or migration?) gas content of shale (from 1,2 to 10,5 m3/t) high recoverable reserves of hydrocarbon gases in their deposition places are due to the "interception" of sub-vertical gas flows from deep-seated zones of the present-day or the geologically recent (according to geological scale) oil and gas generation. In other words, the global shale gas sensation provoked by the USA mass media does not have any substantiation, and an increase of gas extraction in this country is not associated with exploitation of the so-called shale gas deposits, but with development of earlier suspended free gas deposits (for instance Woodford, etc.), and/or with the interception of gas flows from deep-seated zones of recent oil and gas generation and oil and gas deposits of oil and gas basins (Haynesville, etc.)

An experiment to test the addition of potassium to a non-draining lake as a countermeasure to

Lake Svyatoye, a non-draining (closed) lake in Belarus was selected for a whole-lake experiment into the effect of potassium on 137Cs accumulation in fish. The lake is in a zone of 137Cs contamination of more than 1,480 kBq/m2, K+ concentration of the lake water (1.0 mg/l) prior to the experiment was relatively low, and 137Cs activity concentration ranged from 3.8 to 4.9 Bq/l. Prior to the experiment, the 137Cs activity concentrations in fish were amongst the highest of all aquatic systems affected by Chernobyl, being from 8.4 to 17.5 kBq/kg (wet weight) for rudd, from 12.4 to 16.7 kBq/kg for roach; from 58 to 105 kBq/kg for perch and up to 56 kBq/kg for pike. To study the effect of the dissolved K+ concentration upon 137Cs accumulation and retention in fish, 14,535 kg of potassium fertilizer was spread over the ice cover of the lake. After the application of KCl fertilizer, the K+ concentration in the lake water increased to 10 mg/l. An increase of [K+] in water resulted, as expected, in an increase in 137Cs activity concentration in water (to 9.55-15.1 Bq/l, with average 12.17 Bq/l), as a result of 137Cs desorption from bottom sediments. In spite of the increase in 137Cs in the water, the K+ addition resulted in a steady decrease of 137Cs activity concentration in different fish species during the experiment (from 1998-2000) to approximately 30% to 50% of their original values