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Biogenic trace gases: Measuring emissions from soil and water
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Vol. 60, No. 13, pp. 2481-2482, 1996 Copyright 6 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in the USA. All rights resewed 0016-7037/96 $15.00 + .I0
Pergamon
BOOK REVIEWS
Chemistry of Aquatic Systems: Local and Global Perspectives edited by G. Bidoglio and W. Stumm. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1994, x + 534p., f125.00 (ISBN O-7923-2867-1).
The color variations (actually distinguishable in color figures) are used to compute biomass, visualize surface currents and upwelling, determine rates of photosynthesis, and estimate rates for sequestering of CO? in the oceans. Two chapters review reactions at the mineral-water interface and surface processes in water technology. Highlights include a brief description of the utility of noninvasive spectroscopic methods for characterizing surface reaction mechanisms and engineering of water compositions by controlling surface reactions. The remaining six chapters center on the range of spatial and temporal scales involved in the “transformation, degradation, and transport of pollutants.” The first chapter addresses organic reductants and redox transformation of metals placing emphasis on the poor level of characterization of the organic molecules themselves. Abiotic transformation pathways of organic chemicals such as nucleophilic-electrophilic interactions and redox reactions is the topic of the second chapter. Chapter three is an overview of coupled reaction-flow processes including sorption on and transport of colloidal particles, diffusion of solutes, and relative effects of chemical equilibria and kinetics. The author discusses how to address spatial heterogeneities and temporal patterns in terms of composite parameters that can be used in stochastic models. Scale effects are also covered in the next chapter where a more in-depth analysis of deterministic and stochastic approaches to modeling contaminant transport is presented. This author reminds us that questions arise from field problems, laboratory experiments are useful for testing mechanisms that may occur in the field, and models are “tools to improve our knowledge.” Hydrologic and biogeochemical response of catchments to anthropogenic inputs are presented in the following chapter in which the reader is instructed on how to use models to predict response time of catchments to disturbances such as acid deposition. Finally, the last chapter covers how remote spectral sensing techniques can be used to map out soil types and follow degradation of soils in response to environmental inputs. This is a relatively new application, is not yet routinely used in soil analysis, and requires more fundamental research on effects of soil properties such as organic and moisture content on spectral response. This book is a substantial collection of information from which geochemists, soil scientists, aquatic scientists, and even biologists can obtain a bigger view of their own little comer of the research world. As a geochemist, I found the chapters outside of my field to be the most interesting and provocative, in particular those describing what can be learned by using remote sensing techniques. One should not view the chapters as complete reviews of current literature, as they must reflect the current interests of their authors due to limited space. However, many of the chapters provide a brief but relatively in-depth view of their subject matter including a fair level of mathematical detail. The book should be especially useful to anyone considering teaching a course in global or environmental geochemistry. Significant topics are covered and enough information is presented to lead the reader in the right directions to obtain more in-depth information. Geochemistry Department K. L. Nagy
This book is a series of eighteen written lectures given by an intemational team of experts at the Fifth Eurocourse on “Chemical and Environmental Science” held at the Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy, in late 1993. The purposes of the course were to ( 1) illustrate how the land, water, and atmosphere are linked by hydrogeochemical cycles, (2) increase understanding of nutrient, metal, and organic carbon cycling in marine and lacustrine systems, (3) recount current research and water technological applications of processes at the solid-water interface, (4) describe the fate of pollutants in the environment, and (5) show how to link processes occurring at different scales in space and time. According to the editors, the chapters are written “to assist the readers in understanding general principles.” The first four chapters provide an overview of “AtmosphereRock-Water Interactions.” Their collective goals are to demonstrate how natural waters acquire their composition and how that composition is controlled over time by interactions with the atmosphere, rocks, and biota. The first chapter summarizes key reactions that control composition of natural waters, and in particular emphasizes reactions that control the proton balance, effects of biological processes, and chemical weathering rates. The second chapter focuses on how vegetation is involved in cycling elements in soils and in controlling the H’ budget. Chapter three deals specifically with the aquatic carbonate system. The last chapter is a discussion of heterogeneous chemical reactions that occur in the troposphere, in particular those that are mediated by clouds. For example, 80-90% of the sulfuric acid formed in the atmosphere may occur in liquid clouds that occupy only 5-6% of the tropospheric volume. In the second section of the book, six chapters are dedicated to “Metals, Nutrients, and Organic Carbon.” These chapters concentrate on interrelated aspects of these three components of natural waters. The first chapter deals with biogechemistry of organic matter in coastal ocean waters, and discusses various organic tracers used to identify sources of particulate and dissolved organic matter. Examples are given for Chinese and Arctic rivers. The second chapter discusses how microbes transform metals through such processes as regulatory and membrane functions, act as nucleation sites for authigenic mineral formation, leach metals from ores, act as biohydrometallurgists to leach metals from sewage and industrial wastes, and volatilize metals. The third chapter is a review of metal-ligand speciation in the environment, and the fourth delves into the area of heterogeneous photoredox reactions, emphasizing iron cycling and its mediation of the photochemical oxidation of reduced carbon and sulfur, and of hydrogen peroxide formation. The author of chapter four raises the question of how ozone depletion will affect the rates of these processes by increasing the intensity of UV radiation. Trace metal/phytoplankton interactions in the ocean are addressed in the fifth chapter in which it is shown how Fe and Zn, for example, have nutrient value to certain phytoplankton in limited concentrations. The last chapter in this section presents optical remote sensing data that reveal vast heterogeneity in the color of the ocean and its causes including marine productivity and atmospheric interactions.
Sandia National Laboratories Albuquerque, NM 871850750,
Biogenic Trace Gases: Measuring Emissions from Soil and Water
USA
gaining a practical, working knowledge of the topic. The best way is to inveigle an invitation into the shop of someone who is actively involved in field, laboratory, and theoretical aspects of trace-gas research. Unfortunately, this approach often is impossible due to everyone’s busy schedule and lack of funding to support extended extramural visits. The next best answer is to have a handbook, written
edited by P. A. Matson and R. C. Harriss. Blackwell, 1995, U.S. $55.00 (ISBN o-632-03641-9). If you want to measure and understand trace-gas fluxes among soil, water, and me atmosphere, you have a number of choices for 248 1
2482
Book Reviews
by experts in the held, in which the latest analytical and interpretive techniques are described and evaluated. This informative volume is such a practical manual that describes field equipment, analytical instrumentation. and data-handling methods relevant to biogenic trace gases. The volume is the fourth in Blackwell’s Methods in Ecology Series, which seeks to supply practical technical information for conducting ecological and environmental studies. Most biogenic trace gases are compounds of carbon, hydrogen. nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur. The gases are produced, fixed, or in some way influenced by microorganisms in soil and water. The chapters in this book focus on obtaining reliable measurements of gas concentrations and flux rates and extrapolating site-specific or regional measurements to a global scale. Site-specific measurements of gas fluxes can be made with enclosures that seal off a volume of atmosphere and the underlying soil or water, which converts the system into a small natural laboratory. The main problem with enclosures is that they perturb natural conditions, so many ingenious enclosure designs have been developed to minimize such perturbations. Micrometeorological methods of determining gas fluxes, such as the eddy-correlation technique, are an alternative to enclosures. Micrometeorological measurements can be made from fixed towers, floating rafts, or even moving aircraft, and have broader geographic coverage than enclosure measurements. Of course, the trade off for broader coverage is poorer spatial resolution of flux variations. Pros and cons of enclosure and micrometeorological techniques and the best situations in which to use each are discussed in Chapters I to 5. A variety of analytical instruments has been developed to measure trace-gas concentrations in the field and laboratory. Gas chromatographs with various types of detectors are familiar and widely used. and spectroscopic techniques such as tunable infrared laser differential absorption spectroscopy offer new possibilities for making field measurements of atmospheric chemistry. Spectroscopic methods that measure infrared absorption have the added attraction of being able to determine stable isotope ratios such as ‘ZC/‘3C and “O/‘“O in environmental gas samples, although not yet with the precision of conventional Nier-type isotope-ratio mass spectrometers. The operating principles of both common and exotic instruments and comparisons among different analytical techniques are discussed in Chapters 6 to 8.
Microbiological processes that affect trace-gas emissions should be identified to help predict and explain variations in gas fluxes. Some of these processes can be identified by monitoring changes in flux rates on manipulation of environmental variables such as oxygen partial pressures and concentrations of reaction substrates and inhibitors. Other microbially mediated processes produce distinct isotopic signatures in the emitted gases. Soil properties such as carbon availability, moisture content and temperature also affect microbial processes. These matters are discussed in Chapters 9 and 10. Gas flux measurements are made over comparatively short times and restricted areas. Models of gas fluxes have been developed to till in the temporal and spatial gaps between measurements and to extrapolate measurements to a global basis. The conceptually simple “measure and multiply” extrapolation method involves measuring fluxes in one type of landscape and multiplying by the area of similar land on the whole planet. More complex extrapolation techniques depend on computerized geographical information systems where flux rates are estimated by overlaying information on climatic. ecosystem. and soil properties. Chapter I1 discusses modeling of tracegas emissions, and contains some wise advice, such as not equating useful models “with the technology of computing and data visualization.” The book is uniformly well written, and nicely produced with a durable laminated cover and consistently formatted figures with offset shadow backgrounds. On the cover is an abstract representation of a balance in which plants and animals in an ecosystem are weighed against gas bubbling out of sediments. Other books in the series also have the scale, but the ecosystem is weighed against another illustration that is appropriate to the topic of the book. The book has a good index, but the references are the ends of the individual chapters rather than aggregated at the end of the book. I prefer all the references grouped at the end. I found only one error in the book: a splintered sentence at the bottom of p. 275. This good, reasonably priced book offers keen insights and upto-date information on measuring and interpreting trace-gas emissions. If you need this book. you need it a lot. U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Mounds View, MN 55112, USA
Stephen
C. Komor
Pergamon
BOOK REVIEWS
Chemistry of Aquatic Systems: Local and Global Perspectives edited by G. Bidoglio and W. Stumm. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1994, x + 534p., f125.00 (ISBN O-7923-2867-1).
The color variations (actually distinguishable in color figures) are used to compute biomass, visualize surface currents and upwelling, determine rates of photosynthesis, and estimate rates for sequestering of CO? in the oceans. Two chapters review reactions at the mineral-water interface and surface processes in water technology. Highlights include a brief description of the utility of noninvasive spectroscopic methods for characterizing surface reaction mechanisms and engineering of water compositions by controlling surface reactions. The remaining six chapters center on the range of spatial and temporal scales involved in the “transformation, degradation, and transport of pollutants.” The first chapter addresses organic reductants and redox transformation of metals placing emphasis on the poor level of characterization of the organic molecules themselves. Abiotic transformation pathways of organic chemicals such as nucleophilic-electrophilic interactions and redox reactions is the topic of the second chapter. Chapter three is an overview of coupled reaction-flow processes including sorption on and transport of colloidal particles, diffusion of solutes, and relative effects of chemical equilibria and kinetics. The author discusses how to address spatial heterogeneities and temporal patterns in terms of composite parameters that can be used in stochastic models. Scale effects are also covered in the next chapter where a more in-depth analysis of deterministic and stochastic approaches to modeling contaminant transport is presented. This author reminds us that questions arise from field problems, laboratory experiments are useful for testing mechanisms that may occur in the field, and models are “tools to improve our knowledge.” Hydrologic and biogeochemical response of catchments to anthropogenic inputs are presented in the following chapter in which the reader is instructed on how to use models to predict response time of catchments to disturbances such as acid deposition. Finally, the last chapter covers how remote spectral sensing techniques can be used to map out soil types and follow degradation of soils in response to environmental inputs. This is a relatively new application, is not yet routinely used in soil analysis, and requires more fundamental research on effects of soil properties such as organic and moisture content on spectral response. This book is a substantial collection of information from which geochemists, soil scientists, aquatic scientists, and even biologists can obtain a bigger view of their own little comer of the research world. As a geochemist, I found the chapters outside of my field to be the most interesting and provocative, in particular those describing what can be learned by using remote sensing techniques. One should not view the chapters as complete reviews of current literature, as they must reflect the current interests of their authors due to limited space. However, many of the chapters provide a brief but relatively in-depth view of their subject matter including a fair level of mathematical detail. The book should be especially useful to anyone considering teaching a course in global or environmental geochemistry. Significant topics are covered and enough information is presented to lead the reader in the right directions to obtain more in-depth information. Geochemistry Department K. L. Nagy
This book is a series of eighteen written lectures given by an intemational team of experts at the Fifth Eurocourse on “Chemical and Environmental Science” held at the Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy, in late 1993. The purposes of the course were to ( 1) illustrate how the land, water, and atmosphere are linked by hydrogeochemical cycles, (2) increase understanding of nutrient, metal, and organic carbon cycling in marine and lacustrine systems, (3) recount current research and water technological applications of processes at the solid-water interface, (4) describe the fate of pollutants in the environment, and (5) show how to link processes occurring at different scales in space and time. According to the editors, the chapters are written “to assist the readers in understanding general principles.” The first four chapters provide an overview of “AtmosphereRock-Water Interactions.” Their collective goals are to demonstrate how natural waters acquire their composition and how that composition is controlled over time by interactions with the atmosphere, rocks, and biota. The first chapter summarizes key reactions that control composition of natural waters, and in particular emphasizes reactions that control the proton balance, effects of biological processes, and chemical weathering rates. The second chapter focuses on how vegetation is involved in cycling elements in soils and in controlling the H’ budget. Chapter three deals specifically with the aquatic carbonate system. The last chapter is a discussion of heterogeneous chemical reactions that occur in the troposphere, in particular those that are mediated by clouds. For example, 80-90% of the sulfuric acid formed in the atmosphere may occur in liquid clouds that occupy only 5-6% of the tropospheric volume. In the second section of the book, six chapters are dedicated to “Metals, Nutrients, and Organic Carbon.” These chapters concentrate on interrelated aspects of these three components of natural waters. The first chapter deals with biogechemistry of organic matter in coastal ocean waters, and discusses various organic tracers used to identify sources of particulate and dissolved organic matter. Examples are given for Chinese and Arctic rivers. The second chapter discusses how microbes transform metals through such processes as regulatory and membrane functions, act as nucleation sites for authigenic mineral formation, leach metals from ores, act as biohydrometallurgists to leach metals from sewage and industrial wastes, and volatilize metals. The third chapter is a review of metal-ligand speciation in the environment, and the fourth delves into the area of heterogeneous photoredox reactions, emphasizing iron cycling and its mediation of the photochemical oxidation of reduced carbon and sulfur, and of hydrogen peroxide formation. The author of chapter four raises the question of how ozone depletion will affect the rates of these processes by increasing the intensity of UV radiation. Trace metal/phytoplankton interactions in the ocean are addressed in the fifth chapter in which it is shown how Fe and Zn, for example, have nutrient value to certain phytoplankton in limited concentrations. The last chapter in this section presents optical remote sensing data that reveal vast heterogeneity in the color of the ocean and its causes including marine productivity and atmospheric interactions.
Sandia National Laboratories Albuquerque, NM 871850750,
Biogenic Trace Gases: Measuring Emissions from Soil and Water
USA
gaining a practical, working knowledge of the topic. The best way is to inveigle an invitation into the shop of someone who is actively involved in field, laboratory, and theoretical aspects of trace-gas research. Unfortunately, this approach often is impossible due to everyone’s busy schedule and lack of funding to support extended extramural visits. The next best answer is to have a handbook, written
edited by P. A. Matson and R. C. Harriss. Blackwell, 1995, U.S. $55.00 (ISBN o-632-03641-9). If you want to measure and understand trace-gas fluxes among soil, water, and me atmosphere, you have a number of choices for 248 1
2482
Book Reviews
by experts in the held, in which the latest analytical and interpretive techniques are described and evaluated. This informative volume is such a practical manual that describes field equipment, analytical instrumentation. and data-handling methods relevant to biogenic trace gases. The volume is the fourth in Blackwell’s Methods in Ecology Series, which seeks to supply practical technical information for conducting ecological and environmental studies. Most biogenic trace gases are compounds of carbon, hydrogen. nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur. The gases are produced, fixed, or in some way influenced by microorganisms in soil and water. The chapters in this book focus on obtaining reliable measurements of gas concentrations and flux rates and extrapolating site-specific or regional measurements to a global scale. Site-specific measurements of gas fluxes can be made with enclosures that seal off a volume of atmosphere and the underlying soil or water, which converts the system into a small natural laboratory. The main problem with enclosures is that they perturb natural conditions, so many ingenious enclosure designs have been developed to minimize such perturbations. Micrometeorological methods of determining gas fluxes, such as the eddy-correlation technique, are an alternative to enclosures. Micrometeorological measurements can be made from fixed towers, floating rafts, or even moving aircraft, and have broader geographic coverage than enclosure measurements. Of course, the trade off for broader coverage is poorer spatial resolution of flux variations. Pros and cons of enclosure and micrometeorological techniques and the best situations in which to use each are discussed in Chapters I to 5. A variety of analytical instruments has been developed to measure trace-gas concentrations in the field and laboratory. Gas chromatographs with various types of detectors are familiar and widely used. and spectroscopic techniques such as tunable infrared laser differential absorption spectroscopy offer new possibilities for making field measurements of atmospheric chemistry. Spectroscopic methods that measure infrared absorption have the added attraction of being able to determine stable isotope ratios such as ‘ZC/‘3C and “O/‘“O in environmental gas samples, although not yet with the precision of conventional Nier-type isotope-ratio mass spectrometers. The operating principles of both common and exotic instruments and comparisons among different analytical techniques are discussed in Chapters 6 to 8.
Microbiological processes that affect trace-gas emissions should be identified to help predict and explain variations in gas fluxes. Some of these processes can be identified by monitoring changes in flux rates on manipulation of environmental variables such as oxygen partial pressures and concentrations of reaction substrates and inhibitors. Other microbially mediated processes produce distinct isotopic signatures in the emitted gases. Soil properties such as carbon availability, moisture content and temperature also affect microbial processes. These matters are discussed in Chapters 9 and 10. Gas flux measurements are made over comparatively short times and restricted areas. Models of gas fluxes have been developed to till in the temporal and spatial gaps between measurements and to extrapolate measurements to a global basis. The conceptually simple “measure and multiply” extrapolation method involves measuring fluxes in one type of landscape and multiplying by the area of similar land on the whole planet. More complex extrapolation techniques depend on computerized geographical information systems where flux rates are estimated by overlaying information on climatic. ecosystem. and soil properties. Chapter I1 discusses modeling of tracegas emissions, and contains some wise advice, such as not equating useful models “with the technology of computing and data visualization.” The book is uniformly well written, and nicely produced with a durable laminated cover and consistently formatted figures with offset shadow backgrounds. On the cover is an abstract representation of a balance in which plants and animals in an ecosystem are weighed against gas bubbling out of sediments. Other books in the series also have the scale, but the ecosystem is weighed against another illustration that is appropriate to the topic of the book. The book has a good index, but the references are the ends of the individual chapters rather than aggregated at the end of the book. I prefer all the references grouped at the end. I found only one error in the book: a splintered sentence at the bottom of p. 275. This good, reasonably priced book offers keen insights and upto-date information on measuring and interpreting trace-gas emissions. If you need this book. you need it a lot. U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Mounds View, MN 55112, USA
Stephen
C. Komor