The loess plateau in northwestern China with an area of 640 000km^2, which has developed the loess deposits with a thickness up to 200m in typical areas, is regarded as a huge carbon stock like the karst area in southwestern China, and plays an important role in regional(even global) carbon cycle. But the spring discharging from loess is poorly known compared with karst spring so far. The objective of this study is to ascertain the characteristics and origin of spring at Qiushe Village, Lingtai County, Gansu Province by hydro-chemical and isotopic methods. The results show that the springs including LGQ, HMQ, YYQ and CZQ are the depression spring and belong to the same shallow aquifer with the well water JZJ. There are not distinct seasonal/diurnal-scale variations on the hydro-chemical characteristics of the spring water(LGQ, HMQ, YYQ, CZQ) and groundwater(JZJ). The hydro-chemical type of groundwater is Ca·Mg-HCO_3. The D and O isotope ratios indicate that the precipitation is the main recharge source of groundwater in study area. And the results of tritium(TU) and Cl concentration suggest that the recharge cycle of groundwater may be more than 60 yrs. Our study shows that the water cycle in loess plateau including rainfall, infiltration, recharge and discharge exerts a continuous impact on carbon stock in loess, which should be paid more attention to in future research on the quantitative reconstruction of paleoclimate.
This study investigated the impact of topography and vegetation on distribution of rare earth elements(REEs)in calcareous soils using methods of single extraction and mass balance calculation. The purposes of the study were to set a basis for further research on the biogeochemical REE cycle and to provide references for soil–water conservation and REE-containing fertilizer amendments. The results show a generally flat Post-Archean Average Australian Shale—normalized REE pattern for the studied calcareous soils. REE enrichment varied widely. The proportion of acidsoluble phases of heavy REEs was higher than that of light REEs. From top to bottom of the studied hills, dominant REE sources transitioned from limestone in-situ weathering to input from REE-containing phases(e.g., clay minerals,amorphous iron, REE-containing fluids). Our results indicate that the REE content of calcareous soils is mainly controlled by slope aspect, while the enrichment degree of REEs is related to geomorphological position and vegetation type.Furthermore, the proportion of acid-soluble phases of REEs is mainly controlled by geomorphological position.
This study describes the development and validation of a sensitive and reliable method for determination of polybrominated diphenyl ethers（PBDEs）in atmospheric particulate matter using selective pressurized liquid extraction（SPLE）and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry with a negative chemical ionization（GC-NCI-MS）.Extraction and clean-up were performed using PLE with 2 g florisil and 3 g silica placed in the extraction cells.Under optimal conditions,14 PBDEs were extracted at 70℃ using hexane/dichloromethane（50：50,v/v）as solvent.Validation of SPLE returned excellent recoveries for most analytes,with relative standard deviations mostly below20%.Method detection limits ranged from 0.13 to15.38 ng·mL^-1 for the GC-MS analyses.The method was successfully applied to atmospheric particulate matter of Beijing,where analytes were detected in the range of182.79 to 468.99 pg·m^-3.
Fertilization and aglime(agricultural lime) application, as important agricultural activities in acid soil, exert an influence on the fluxes of carbon both between and within ecosystems. Animal manure added to soil can elevate the soil CO_2 and release organic acid due to microbial decomposition of the high organic matter content of animal manure. Additionally, the elevated CO_2 can accelerate carbonate weathering in alkaline soil, such as lime soil. However, in acidic soil, it is unclear whether the chemical weathering of additive aglime can be quickened by the elevated CO_2 due to animal manure addition. Thus, to ascertain the impact of animal manure addition on aglime weathering in acidic soil and to understand the weathering agent of aglime or underlying carbonate in the acidic soil profile, we established two contrasting profiles(control profile and manurial profile) in a cabbage-corn or capsicum-corn rotation in a field experiment site located in the Hua Xi district of Guiyang, China, and buried carbonate rock tablets at different depths of soil profiles to calculate the dissolution rate of carbonate rock by monitoring the weights of the tablets. The results indicated that soil CO_2 increased due to animal manure addition, but the rate of dissolution of the carbonate rock tablets was reduced, which was attributed to the increase in the p H in acidic soil after animal manure addition because the relationship between the dissolution rate of carbonate rock and soil p H indicated that the weathering rate of carbonate rock was controlled by pH and not by CO_2 in acidic soil. Thus, the contribution of H+ ions(mainly exchangeable acid) in acid soil as a weathering agent to the weathering of underlying carbonate(and/or aglime) may lead to the overestimation of the CO_2 consumption through chemical weathering at the regional/global scale using hydro-chemical methods.
