Biogeochemistry of Natural Waters: Natural and Anthropogenic Factors, Climate and Ecosystems Changes

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water and Climate Change".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 209

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry of Russian Academу of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, Russia
Interests: geochemistry of natural waters; heavy metals; water organic matter; element speciation; ecological chemistry; green chemistry

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Within the actively developing modern technogenesis, natural waters are characterized by significant biogeochemical changes.

Natural waters play a decisive role in biogeochemical cycles and in maintaining the stability of the biosphere. The impact of global climate change and other various anthropogenic impacts change the existing balances, chemical composition, and ecosystem stability in water systems.

An increase or decrease in the supply of heavy metal ions, toxic organic substances, biological pollution, etc., changes the biological and chemical status of water.

The study of the chemical and biogeochemical composition and element speciation of a water system makes it possible to assess the level of restoration or degradation and the contribution of global and local pollution. The study of underground and soil waters allows one to analyze the changes in biogeochemical migration and changes in the element cycles. Long-term studies of small lakes, rivers, and groundwater are important for assessing global changes in ecosystems.

Modern, informational parameters indicating the evolution of the biosphere include element speciation, quality of organic matter, isotope ratios of the elements, and the mutual influence of the components on each other.

The use of these research methodologies helps with the development of a biogeochemical research on this topic.

Dr. Marina Ivanovna Dinu
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • biogeochemistry
  • natural waters
  • heavy metals
  • water organic matter
  • ecosystem evolution
  • climatic and anthropogenic influence

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

23 pages, 8115 KiB  
Article
Biogeochemical In Situ Barriers in the Aquifers near Uranium Sludge Storages
by Anatoly Boguslavsky, Olga Shvartseva, Nadezhda Popova and Alexey Safonov
Water 2023, 15(17), 3020; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15173020 - 22 Aug 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1117
Abstract
The long-term operation of uranium sludge storages causes serious problems: it contaminates the neighboring aquifers with dangerous substances (uranium, nitrate, ammonium, and sulfate). To purify the aquifers can be costly and time-consuming; therefore, it is important to use the potential of in situ [...] Read more.
The long-term operation of uranium sludge storages causes serious problems: it contaminates the neighboring aquifers with dangerous substances (uranium, nitrate, ammonium, and sulfate). To purify the aquifers can be costly and time-consuming; therefore, it is important to use the potential of in situ conditions, e.g., the aboriginal microflora and its ability to biologically remediate water reservoirs. In this work, we study the geological, geochemical, and microbiological characteristics of groundwater contaminated by uranium sludge storages resulting from the production cycles of four Russian chemical plants. All of the sites under consideration were extremely contaminated with nitrate (up to 15 g/L); in each case, we used denitrifying bacteria as a dominant group of microorganisms for purification. Our laboratory studies showed that microbial stimulation of water samples by milk whey promotes O2 and nitrate removal; this, in turn, started the cycle of anaerobic processes of authigenic precipitation caused by the reduction of iron and sulfate in the system. Thus, a mineral geochemical barrier preventing uranium immobilization formed. As a result, the uranium of the liquid phase decreased about 92–98% after 3–6 months (decomposition time depends on the nitrate concentration in the groundwater probe). The resulting amorphous biogenic phases contain sulfur, iron, phosphorus, and uranium. Full article
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