The Process of Soil Carbon Sequestration in Different Ecological Zones of Qingtu Lake in the Arid-Semi-Arid Region of Western China.

As a vital component of the global carbon pool, soils in arid and semi-arid regions play a significant role in carbon sequestration. In the context of global warming, increasing temperatures and moisture levels promote the transformation of barren land into wetlands, enhancing carbon sinks. However, the overdevelopment of oases and excessive extraction of groundwater lead to the opposite effect, reducing carbon sequestration.

A nationwide study of heavy metal(loid)s in agricultural soils and the soil-grown black morel Morchella sextelata in China.

The accumulation of heavy metal(loid)s (HMs) in soil-grown mushrooms poses potential health risks. Morchella sextelata (black morel) is a typical soil-grown mushroom with a rapidly expanding cultivation area. This study investigated the distribution of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, mercury, nickel, lead, and zinc in 213 pairs of soil and morel samples collected from 29 provincial administrative regions in China, together with the nutritional contents in the morel samples.

Ecological Risk Assessment and Source Identification of Heavy Metals in Soils from Shiyang River Watershed in Northwest China.

Shiyang River Watershed is an important ecological barrier and agricultural production area in Northwest China, and the study of soil heavy metal content, distribution, and sources is important for agricultural product safety, pollution control, and ecosystem health. In this paper, 140 soil samples were collected from 28 stations to assess the level of heavy metal (Arsenic (As), Copper (Cu), Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), Mercury (Hg), Nickel (Ni), Zinc (Zn)) contamination, pollutant sources and influencing factors of soil in Shiyang River Watershed through determination of the metal contents and statistical analysis. The results indicated that the soils in the study area are typical saline soils in arid zones.

Soil texture and microorganisms dominantly determine the subsoil carbonate content in the permafrost-affected area of the Tibetan Plateau.

Under climate warming conditions, storage and conversion of soil inorganic carbon () play an important role in regulating soil carbon (C) dynamics and atmospheric CO content in arid and semi-arid areas. Carbonate formation in alkaline soil can fix a large amount of C in the form of inorganic C, resulting in soil C sink and potentially slowing global warming trends. Therefore, understanding the driving factors affecting carbonate mineral formation can help better predict future climate change.

Are oil spills an important source of heavy metal contamination in the Bohai Sea, China?

Accurate evaluation of the heavy metal contamination caused by oil spills is more urgent than that of organic pollution since heavy metals are toxic and persistent. This study applies bulk geochemical parameters and hydrocarbon compositions to explore heavy metal contamination caused by oil spills. The contents of six heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr, Ni, and Co), total organic carbon, aliphatic hydrocarbons, and grain size were measured in 50 subsurface sediment samples obtained from an area affected by oil spills in the Bohai Sea.

Distribution and controls of heavy metals and organic matter in the surface sediments of the Southern Yellow Sea, China.

Accurate and effective determination of the source of heavy metals is essential for the treatment of marine ecological environments. This article attempts to combine geochemical composition data and hydrocarbon composition data to achieve this purpose. The concentrations of six heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr, Ni, and Co), grain size, total organic carbon (TOC) content, AlO content, and aliphatic hydrocarbons (AHs) in 501 surface samples from the Southern Yellow Sea (SYS) were analyzed.

Presence of aliphatic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in near-surface sediments of an oil spill area in Bohai Sea.

In order to determine the source of organic matter and the fingerprint of the oil components, 50 samples collected from the near-surface sediments of the oil spill area in Bohai Sea, China, were analyzed for grain size, total organic carbon, aliphatic hydrocarbons (AHs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The concentrations of C15-35 n-alkanes and 16 United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) priority pollutant PAHs were found in the ranges of 0.88-3.

An analysis of organic matter sources for surface sediments in the central South Yellow Sea, China: evidence based on macroelements and n-alkanes.

By analyzing the composition of n-alkane and macroelements in the surface sediments of the central South Yellow Sea of China, we evaluated the influencing factors on the distribution of organic matter. The analysis indicates that the distribution of total organic carbon (TOC) was low in the west and high in the east, and TOC was more related to Al2O3 content than medium diameter (MD). The composition of n-alkanes indicated the organic matter was mainly derived from terrestrial higher plants.