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French, K. (2022). Indigenous knowledge, water management, and learning from our collective past. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 68, 101466.
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de Jong, I. J. H., Arif, S. S., Gollapalli, P. K. R., Neelam, P., Nofal, E. R., Reddy, K. Y., et al. (2021). Improving agricultural water productivity with a focus on rural transformation*. Irrigation and Drainage, 70(3), 458–469.
Abstract: ABSTRACT As a result of population growth, economic development and climate change, feeding the world and providing water security will require important changes in the technologies, institutions, policies and incentives that drive present-day water management, as captured in Goal 6.4 of the Millennium Development Goals. Irrigation is the largest and most inefficient water user, and there is an expectation that even small improvements in agricultural water productivity will improve water security. This paper argues that improvements in irrigation water productivity involves a complex and comprehensive rural transformation that goes beyond mere promotion of water saving technologies. Many of the measures to improve water productivity require significant changes in the production systems of farmers and in the support provided to them. Looking forward, water use and competition over water are expected to further increase. By 2025, about 1.8 billion people will be living in regions or countries with absolute water scarcity. Demand for water will rise exponentially, while supply becomes more erratic and uncertain, prompting the need for significant shifts of inter-sectoral water allocation to support continued economic growth. Advances in the use of remote sensing technologies will make it increasingly possible to cost-effectively and accurately estimate crop evapotranspiration from farmers’ fields.
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Strandmann, P. A. E. P. von, Reynolds, B. C., Porcelli, D., James, R. H., Calsteren, P. van, Baskaran, M., et al. (2006). Assessing continental weathering rates and actinide transport in the Great Artesian Basin. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 70(18, Supplement), 497.
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Hamutoko, J., Mapani, B., Ellmies, R., Bittner, A., & Külls, C. (2014). A fingerprinting method for the identification of uranium sources in alluvial aquifers: An example from the Khan and Swakop Rivers, Namibia. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C, 72, 34–42.
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Jaireth, S., Roach, I. C., Bastrakov, E., & Liu, S. (2016). Basin-related uranium mineral systems in Australia: A review of critical features. Ore Geology Reviews, 76, 360–394.
Abstract: This paper reviews critical features of basin-related uranium mineral systems in Australia. These mineral systems include Proterozoic unconformity-related uranium systems formed predominantly from diagenetic fluids expelled from sandstones overlying the unconformity, sandstone-hosted uranium systems formed from the influx of oxidised groundwaters through sandstone aquifers, and calcrete uranium systems formed from oxidised groundwaters flowing through palaeochannel aquifers (sand and calcrete). The review uses the so-called ‘source-pathway-trap’ paradigm to summarise critical features of fertile mineral systems. However, the scheme is expanded to include information on the geological setting, age and relative timing of mineralisation, and preservation of mineral systems. The critical features are also summarised in three separate tables. These features can provide the basis to conduct mineral potential and prospectivity analysis in an area. Such analysis requires identification of mappable signatures of above-mentioned critical features in geological, geophysical and geochemical datasets. The review of fertile basin-related systems shows that these systems require the presence of at least four ingredients: a source of leachable uranium (and vanadium and potassium for calcrete-uranium deposits); suitable hydrological architecture enabling connection between the source and the sink (site of accumulation); physical and chemical sinks or traps; and a post-mineralisation setting favourable for preservation. The review also discusses factors that may control the efficiency of mineral systems, assuming that world-class deposits result from more efficient mineral systems. The review presents a brief discussion of factors which may have controlled the formation of large deposits in the Lake Frome region in South Australia, the Chu-Sarysu and Syrdarya Basins in Kazakhstan and calcrete uranium deposits in the Yilgarn region, Western Australia.
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Rajfur, M., Kłos, A., & Wacławek, M. (2010). Sorption properties of algae Spirogyra sp. and their use for determination of heavy metal ions concentrations in surface water. Bioelectrochemistry, 80(1), 81–86.
Abstract: Kinetics of heavy-metal ions sorption by alga Spirogyra sp. was evaluated experimentally in the laboratory, using both the static and the dynamic approach. The metal ions – Mn2+, Cu2+, Zn2+ and Cd2+ – were sorbed from aqueous solutions of their salts. The static experiments showed that the sorption equilibria were attained in 30min, with 90-95% of metal ions sorbed in first 10min of each process. The sorption equilibria were approximated with the Langmuir isotherm model. The algae sorbed each heavy metal ions proportionally to the amount of this metal ions in solution. The experiments confirmed that after 30min of exposition to contaminated water, the concentration of heavy metal ions in the algae, which initially contained small amounts of these metal ions, increased proportionally to the concentration of metal ions in solution. The presented results can be used for elaboration of a method for classification of surface waters that complies with the legal regulations.
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Klimkova, S., Cernik, M., Lacinova, L., Filip, J., Jancik, D., & Zboril, R. (2011). Zero-valent iron nanoparticles in treatment of acid mine water from in situ uranium leaching. Chemosphere, 82(8), 1178–1184.
Abstract: Acid mine water from in situ chemical leaching of uranium (Straz pod Ralskem, Czech Republic) was treated in laboratory scale experiments by zero-valent iron nanoparticles (nZVI). For the first time, nZVI were applied for the treatment of the real acid water system containing the miscellaneous mixture of pollutants, where the various removal mechanisms occur simultaneously. Toxicity of the treated saline acid water is caused by major contaminants represented by aluminum and sulphates in a high concentration, as well as by microcontaminants like As, Be, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, U, V, and Zn. Laboratory batch experiments proved a significant decrease in concentrations of all the monitored pollutants due to an increase in pH and a decrease in oxidation–reduction potential related to an application of nZVI. The assumed mechanisms of contaminants removal include precipitation of cations in a lower oxidation state, precipitation caused by a simple pH increase and co-precipitation with the formed iron oxyhydroxides. The possibility to control the reaction kinetics through the nature of the surface stabilizing shell (polymer vs. FeO nanolayer) is discussed as an important practical aspect.
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Chase, B. M., & Meadows, M. E. (2007). Late Quaternary dynamics of southern Africa’s winter rainfall zone. Earth-Science Reviews, 84(3), 103–138.
Abstract: Variations in the nature and extent of southern Africa’s winter rainfall zone (WRZ) have the potential to provide important information concerning the nature of long-term climate change at both regional and hemispheric scales. Positioned at the interface between tropical and temperate systems, southern Africa’s climate is influenced by shifts in the Intertropical Convergence Zone, the westerlies, and the development and position of continental and oceanic anticyclones. Over the last glacial–interglacial cycle substantial changes in the amount and seasonality of precipitation across the subcontinent have been linked to the relative dominance of these systems. Central to this discussion has been the extent to which the region’s glacial climates would have been affected by expansions of Antarctic sea-ice, equatorward migrations of the westerlies, more frequent/intense winter storms and an expanded WRZ. This paper reviews the developing body of evidence pertaining to shifts in the WRZ, and the evolution of ideas that have been presented to explain the patterns observed. Dividing the region into three separate axes, along the western and southern margins of the continent and across the interior into the Karoo and the Kalahari, a range of evidence from both terrestrial sites and marine cores is considered, and potential expansions of the WRZ expansions are explored. Despite the limitations of many of the region’s proxy records, a coherent pattern has begun to develop of a significantly expanded WRZ during phases of the last glacial period, with the best-documented being between 32–17 ka. While more detailed inferences will require the recovery and analysis of longer and better-dated records, this synthesis provides a new baseline for further research in this key region.
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Haque, N., & Norgate, T. (2014). The greenhouse gas footprint of in-situ leaching of uranium, gold and copper in Australia. Journal of Cleaner Production, 84, 382–390.
Abstract: In-situ leaching (ISL) is a chemical method for recovering useful minerals and metals directly from underground ore bodies which is also referred to as ‘solution mining’. ISL is commonly used for uranium mining, accounting for about 45% of global production. The main benefits are claimed to be a lower environmental impact in terms of visual disturbances, emissions, lower energy use, cost compared with conventional open-cut or underground mining methods, and potential utilisation of lower grade resources. However, there is a lack of reported studies on the assessment of the environmental impacts of ISL, particularly greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions using life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. The SimaPro LCA software was used to estimate the GHG footprint of the ISL of uranium, gold and copper. The total GHG emissions were estimated to be 38.0 kg CO2-e/kg U3O8 concentrate (yellowcake), 29 t CO2-e/kg gold, and 4.78 kg CO2-e/kg Cu. The GHG footprint of ISL uranium was significantly lower than that of conventional mining, however, the footprints of copper and gold were not much less compared with conventional mining methods. This is due to the lower ore grade of ISL deposits and recovery compared with high ore grades and recovery of conventional technology. Additionally, the use of large amount of electricity for pumping in case of ISL contributes to this result. The electricity consumed in pumping leaching solutions was by far the greatest contributor to the well-field related activities associated with ISL of uranium, gold and copper. The main strategy to reduce the GHG footprint of ISL mining should be to use electricity derived from low emission sources. In particular, renewable sources such as solar would be suitable for ISL as these operations are typically in remote locations with smaller deposits compared with conventional mining sites.
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Kamash, Z. (2012). Irrigation technology, society and environment in the Roman Near East. Journal of Arid Environments, 86, 65–74.
Abstract: This paper uses a multi-faceted approach to understand the use and distribution of different irrigation technologies in the Roman Near East (63 BC – AD 636), looking at the ways in which social and environmental factors affected the implementation of those irrigation technologies. It is argued that no single factor can fully explain how irrigation technologies were used across time and space in this region. Instead, choices in irrigation technology seem to have been governed by a complex nexus of both social and environmental factors.
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