Chemical characterization of variably degraded fibre glass reinforced plastic from the marine environment.

Glass reinforced plastic (GRP) constitutes the commonest component of small sea going craft of all descriptions. This study provides a baseline molecular and elemental account of GRP's recovered from the marine environment. Fourteen samples of GRP sourced from scrapyards and one sample sourced from a GRP boat manufacturer were examined.

Glass reinforced plastic (GRP) a new emerging contaminant - First evidence of GRP impact on aquatic organisms.

Plastics and synthetic materials are polluting the world's oceans. In this study we exposed juvenile mussels, Mytilus edulis, to glass reinforced plastic (GRP) dust, under laboratory conditions. The study ran for a period of 7 days, to test for the morphological and potential physiological impacts of GRP.

The spectroscopic search for water in barite group sulfates.

This study examines the mid and near infrared spectra of a suite of natural and synthetic powdered minerals of the isostructural barite mineral group. The mid-infrared (MIR) spectra are wholly compliant with anhydrous high purity anglesite, celestine and barite. The complementary near-infrared (NIR) spectra contain bands at ca 1.

The near-infrared spectra of the alkali carbonates.

This study presents the first account of the near-infrared (NIR) spectra of the alkali carbonates: [CsCO] [RbCO] [KCO] [NaCO] and [LiCO]. Seven NIR bands (labelled [A] to [G] inclusive) within the [4000-6000cm] (2.5-1.

Crystal chemical correlations between the mid and near-infrared in carbonate minerals.

Near-infrared (NIR) spectra of carbonates have proved important in many disciplines including planetary exploration. Classically bands in the 4000-6000 cm(-1) (2.5-1.

The effect of the particle size on the fundamental vibrations of the [CO3(2-)] anion in calcite.

This study examines the effects of particle sizes between 3 and 121 μm on the fundamental vibrations of the [CO3(2-)] anion in calcite [CaCO3] as analyzed by total attenuated reflectance infrared spectroscopy (ATR-IR) and Raman spectroscopy (RS). The ATR-IR absorbance intensity ratios of the [ν4/ν3] [712 cm(-1)/1393 cm(-1)], [ν4/ν2] [712 cm(-1)/871 cm(-1)], and [ν2/ν3] [871 cm(-1)/1393 cm(-1)] share the same profile for grain size fractions 121 μm through to 42 μm mode. Between 42 and 3 μm mode the three ratios sharply decline in a systematic manner, consistent with a nonuniform decrease in spectral contrast of the [CO3(2-)] internal modes.

Provenancing of silcrete raw materials indicates long-distance transport to Tsodilo Hills, Botswana, during the Middle Stone Age.

Lithic artifacts from the African Middle Stone Age (MSA) offer an avenue to explore a range of human behaviors, including mobility, raw material acquisition, trade and exchange. However, to date, in southern Africa it has not been possible to provenance the locations from which commonly used stone materials were acquired prior to transport to archaeological sites. Here we present results of the first investigation to geochemically fingerprint silcrete, a material widely used for tool manufacture across the subcontinent.

Electrokinetic remediation of plutonium-contaminated nuclear site wastes: results from a pilot-scale on-site trial.

This paper examines the field-scale application of a novel low-energy electrokinetic technique for the remediation of plutonium-contaminated nuclear site soils, using soil wastes from the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) Aldermaston site, Berkshire, UK as a test medium. Soils and sediments with varying composition, contaminated with Pu through historical site operations, were electrokinetically treated at laboratory-scale with and without various soil pre-conditioning agents. Results from these bench-scale trials were used to inform a larger on-site remediation trial, using an adapted containment pack with battery power supply.

Use of iron-based technologies in contaminated land and groundwater remediation: a review.

Reactions involving iron play a major role in the environmental cycling of a wide range of important organic, inorganic and radioactive contaminants. Consequently, a range of environmental clean-up technologies have been proposed or developed which utilise iron chemistry to remediate contaminated land and surface and subsurface waters, e.g.