Our recent discovery of hazardous concentrations of arsenic in shallow sedimentary aquifers in Cambodia raises the spectre of future deleterious health impacts on a population that, particularly in non-urban areas, extensively use untreated groundwater as a source of drinking water and, in some instances, as irrigation water. We present here small-scale hazard maps for arsenic in shallow Cambodian groundwaters based on >1000 groundwater samples analysed in the Manchester Analytical Geochemistry Unit and elsewhere. Key indicators for hazardous concentrations of arsenic in Cambodian groundwaters include: (1) well depths greater than 16 m; (2) Holocene host sediments; and (3) proximity to major modern channels of the Mekong (and its distributary the Bassac). However, high-arsenic well waters are also commonly found in wells not exhibiting these key characteristics, notably in some shallower Holocene wells, and in wells drilled into older Quaternary and Neogene sediments.It is emphasized that the maps and tables presented are most useful for identifying current regional trends in groundwater arsenic hazard and that their use for predicting arsenic concentrations in individual wells, for example for the purposes of well switching, is not recommended, particularly because of the lack of sufficient data (especially at depths >80 m) and because, as in Bangladesh and West Bengal, there is considerable heterogeneity of groundwater arsenic concentrations on a scale of metres to hundreds of metres. We have insufficient data at this time to determine unequivocally whether or not arsenic concentrations are increasing in shallow Cambodian groundwaters as a result of groundwater-abstraction activities.
The effects of chronic "steady-state" and high-speed interval running were investigated on time-course changes in certain biochemical properties of cardiac and skeletal muscle fiber types of rats. Nine weeks of the interval program resulted in significant increased (15%) in both cardiac enlargement and ATPase activity of myofibrils; whereas increases in these parameters were only transient and not significant at the termination of the program involving steady-state running. Neither program induced appreciable alterations in citrate synthase and phosphofructokinase activity in cardiac muscle. In fast-twitch white fibers, "steady-state" training induced only a transient 45% increase in citrate synthase activity in contrast to a progressive twofold change with interval training. Both programs resulted in similar increases (45-50%) in citrate synthase activity in fast-twitch and slow-twitch red fibers. However, the patterns of increase for both fiber types differed between the two programs. These findings suggest that training programs incorporating elements of both "steady-state" incline and high-speed interval running can potentially induce respiratory enzyme adaptations in the greatest spectrum of rodent skeletal muscle fibers in addition to inducing adaptations to enhance contractile potential in cardiac muscle.
Temperate ponds may be important sinks and sources of greenhouse gases but just how quickly ponds bury carbon (C) is poorly understood. We derived – to the best of our knowledge – the first organic carbon (OC) burial rates for small ponds of known age by digging out the whole sediment from ponds, and determined that the average C burial rate was 142 g m−2 yr−1, with a range of 79–247 g m−2 yr−1, depending on the ponds' vegetation. Burial rates in the ponds were 20–30 times higher than rates estimated for many other habitat types, such as woodlands or grasslands, and higher than those of other natural wetlands. Although small ponds occupy a very small proportion of the landscape as compared to these other habitats, their high OC burial rates result in comparable annual OC burial overall. Ponds are easy to create, can fit in with other land uses, and are a globally ubiquitous habitat. Our results indicate that ponds have the potential to be a very useful additional tool for mitigating C emissions.
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