We present guidelines to estimate the effect of electrostatic repulsion in sedimenting dilute particle suspensions. Our results are based on combined Langevin dynamics and lattice Boltzmann simulations for a range of particle radii, Debye lengths and particle concentrations. They show a simple relationship between the slope of the concentration-dependent sedimentation velocity and the range of the electrostatic repulsion normalized by the average particle-particle distance. When → 0, the particles are too far away from each other to interact electrostatically and = 6.55 as predicted by the theory of Batchelor. As increases, likewise increases as if the particle radius increased in proportion to up to a maximum around = 0.4. Over the range = 0.4-1, relaxes exponentially to a concentration-dependent constant consistent with known results for ordered particle distributions. Meanwhile the radial distribution function transitions from a disordered gas-like to a liquid-like form. Power law fits to the concentration-dependent sedimentation velocity similarly yield a simple master curve for the exponent as a function of , with a step-like transition from 1 to 1/3 centered around = 0.6.
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Mar Pollut Bull
January 2025
School of Life Sciences, University of Essex, Colchester CO4 3SQ, UK.
Although oil and gas (O&G) derived produced waters and drill cuttings are known to contain enhanced levels of naturally occurring radium-228 (Ra) and radium-226 (Ra), most relevant ecological impact assessments have excluded radiological hazards and focus on other important contaminants, such as hydrocarbons and metals. Also, due to restricted access to the delimiting safety zone around operational O&G platforms, the few previous radioecological risk assessment studies have been conducted using seawater samples collected far from the main discharge point and applying default dilution and transfer factors to estimate concentrations of contaminants in biota. In this case study, sediment cores were collected close to a former O&G platform, Northwest Hutton (NWH), that used to be in the UK North Sea (61.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Pollut
January 2025
Cardiff University, School of Engineering, Hydro-Environmental Research Centre, Cardiff, Wales, UK.
Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous in river and freshwater ecosystems. However, the hydraulic and hydrological mechanisms that regulate the activation and emissions of MPs from both the land surface and subsurface into rivers are not well understood. This study aims to quantify the instream MP concentration and MP load in a remote headwater catchment river (Taff Bargoed, Wales, UK), which drains the UK's largest opencast coal mine (Ffos-y-fran), over a two-year period.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Total Environ
January 2025
International Joint Research Centre for Persistent Toxic Substances (IJRC-PTS), College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian 116026, PR China. Electronic address:
Although the concept of bioaccumulation for novel brominated flame retardants (NBFRs) is clear, the process and interfering factors of bioaccumulation are still not fully understood. The present study comprehensively evaluated the occurrence, transfer and interfering factors of NBFRs in a marine food web to provide new thought and perspective for the bioaccumulation of these compounds. The occurrence of 17 NBFRs were determined from 8 water, 8 sediment and 303 organism samples collected from Dalian Bay, China.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Hazard Mater
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Technology and Application, Xi'an AMS Center, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an 710061, China. Electronic address:
The potential release of radionuclides threatens marine ecosystems with the rapid development of coastal nuclear power plants in China. However, transport, dispersion, and final budget of anthropogenic radionuclides remain unclear, especially in the Bohai and North Yellow Seas, which are semi-enclosed marginal seas with poor water exchange. This study analyzed anthropogenic I concentration (a typical product of nuclear power plant operations) in seawater samples from this area.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
January 2025
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125.
The organic carbon content of ancient rocks provides a fundamental record of the biosphere on early Earth. For over 50 y, the high organic content of Archean (>2.5 Ga) mudrocks has puzzled geologists and evolutionary biologists, because high biological primary productivity was unexpected for the nascent biosphere before the rise of O.
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