Abstract: During 2002 and 2003, bioremediation experiments in the unconfined aquifer of the Old Rifle UMTRA field site in western Colorado provided evidence for the immobilization of hexavalent uranium in groundwater by iron-reducing Geobacter sp. stimulated by acetate amendment. As the bioavailable Fe(III) terminal electron acceptor was depleted in the zone just downgradient of the acetate injection gallery, sulfate-reducing organisms came to dominate the microbial community. In the present study, we use multicomponent reactive transport modeling to analyze data from the 2002 field experiment to identify the dominant transport and biological processes controlling uranium mobility during biostimulation, and determine field-scale parameters for these modeled processes. The coupled process simulation approach was able to establish a quantitative characterization of the principal flow, transport, and reaction processes based on the 2002 field experiment, that could be applied without modification to describe the 2003 field experiment. Insights gained from this analysis include field-scale estimates of the bioavailable Fe(III) mineral threshold for the onset of sulfate reduction, and rates for the Fe(III), U(VI), and sulfate terminal electron accepting processes.

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.

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.

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.

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.