Environmental Geochemistry in the Tropics (Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences 72)

✍ Scribed by Julio Cesar Wasserman, Emmanoel V. Silva-Filho, Roberto Villas-Boas

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 322
• Series: Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences volume 72
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Held in 1993 in Niterói, Brazil, the first International Conference on Environmental Geochemistry in Tropical Countries established a starting point for this book. The book opens with a discussion of the points that arose during the closing session, summarised by Dr. E.K. Duursma: The Environment in the Tropics Remains Unknown. Most of the processes that occur in temperate environments turn out to be completely different in the tropics. This can already be seen in Chapter 3, where estimates of radionuclide transfer factors reach values considerably greater than in temperate areas. The utilisation of variables measured in temperate environments for modelling of the tropics can result in completely erroneous conclusions and, worse, inefficient remediation solutions.

✦ Table of Contents

Environmental Geochemistry in the Tropics......Page 1
Front matter......Page 2
3-540-63730-3......Page 5
Preface......Page 6
Contents......Page 8
Contributors......Page 12
1 Trends in Environmental Geochemistry in
Tropical Countries......Page 16
2 Paleoclimate Studies in Brazil Using Carbon
Isotopes in Soils......Page 22
3 Soil-to-Plant Transfer of 137Cs Related to its
Geochemical Partitioning in Oxisols of Tropical
Areas......Page 32
4 Speciation, Reactivity and Mobility of Toxic
Elements in Soil Systems......Page 44
5 Key Role of Flow Velocity and pH in the
Lixiviation of Mineral-Forming Elements......Page 64
6 Spatial Distribution and Seasonal Patterns of
Aquatic Emergent Plants in Southeast Brazil:
Development of a Tool for Mass Balances......Page 78
7 Instrumental Multi-Element Analysis in Plant
Materials: A Modern Method in Environmental
Chemistry and Tropical Systems Research......Page 90
8 Chemistry and Distribution of Trace Elements
in the Patos Lagoon, South Brazil......Page 112
9 Mass Balance Estimation of Natural and Anthropogenic Heavy Metal Fluxes in Streams Near the Camaquã Copper Mines, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil......Page 142
10 A Model for Geochemical Partitioning of
Heavy Metals in the Mar Del Plata Coastal
Ecosystem, Argentina......Page 154
11 Mangrove Swamps of the Subaé and Paraguaçu Tributary Rivers of Todos os Santos Bay, Bahia, Brazil......Page 164
12 Metal Scavenging and Cycling in a Tropical
Coastal Region......Page 172
13 Mercury Behaviour in Sediments from a Sub-Tropical Coastal Environment in SE Brazil......Page 186
14 Diagnosis of Environmental Problems Related to Vein Gold Mining in Colombia......Page 200
15 Assessment of the Heavy Metal Pollution in a
Gold "Garimpo"......Page 208
16 Mercury Partitioning Within Alluvial
Sediments of the Carson River Valley, Nevada:
Implications for Sampling Strategies in Tropical
Environments......Page 226
17 Hydrogeochemical Description
of Groundwaters from a Coastal Region
of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil......Page 250
18 Long Term Atmospheric Aerosol
Characterization in the Amazon Basin......Page 262
19 Are Tropical Estuaries Environmental Sinks
or Sources?......Page 288
Index......Page 310