Information regarding adsorption–desorption of pollutants on degradable microplastics in marine environments is limited.

The consumption of atmospheric CO2 as a result of silicate weathering is a very important carbon sink process over geological time scales, serving as a significant mechanism for regulating global carbon cycling and climate. However, whether silicate weathering is a positive driving factor for climate change or a negative feedback to mitigate climate change is still unclear, mainly due to a lack of reliable quantitative estimates of silicate weathering flux. Here, we reconstruct for the first time records of silicate weathering intensity, erosion flux, and silicate weathering flux in the Yangtze River Basin since 3.5 Ma using the sediment cores from the East China Seas (South Yellow Sea and East China Sea), and evaluate their relationship with tectonic and climatic changes. Weathering indices such as Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA) and K/Al ratio indicate that the overall silicate weathering intensity of Yangtze River sediments has been decreasing since about 3.5 Ma, coupled with East Asian paleoclimate indicators and global oxygen isotopes, suggesting that global cooling is the main driving factor for the evolution of weathering intensity. Since the late Pliocene, the silicate weathering flux in the Yangtze River Basin is poorly correlated with weathering efficiency, but shows good consistency with erosion flux, exhibiting a decreasing trend during the late Pliocene to late early Pleistocene followed by an increasing trend since the late early Pleistocene, responding respectively to reduced precipitation caused by cooling climate and increased tectonic activity in the upper Yangtze River Basin. Combined with existing long-term CO2 consumption flux data in Asia, it is evident that erosion flux is the primary factor controlling silicate weathering flux in large river basins, while the impact of variations in silicate weathering intensity is relatively limited. During tectonically quiescent periods, silicate weathering mainly responds to climate change, acting as a negative feedback; during tectonically active periods, silicate weathering drives global climate change. Therefore, climatic- and tectoniccontrolled continental weathering jointly regulate the decrease in atmospheric CO2 concentration and global cooling at the late Cenozoic.

The removal of bisphenol A (BPA) in seawater using microalgae is still a challenge due to the low removal efficiency and weak tolerance. A novel Oocystis algal strain was isolated for BPA removal with an efficiency (> 98

The Yellow Sea is influenced by discharges from the Yangtze River, particularly during winter, when some Yangtze River sediments are transported into the Yellow Sea. These sediments affect the local marine ecosystem through contaminants and nutrients attached to fine-grained suspended sediments. However, the mechanisms controlling the spatial distribution of Yangtze River-derived sediments in the Yellow Sea are not fully understood. To address this, suspended sediment samples collected during the winters of 2010, 2011, and 2012 in the Yellow Sea were analyzed for grain size and mineral composition to determine the sediment provenance. These data were combined with hydrographic (seawater temperature, salinity, and density) and meteorological (winds) measurements to identify the factors influencing interannual variations in the spatial distribution of Yangtze River-derived sediments in the Yellow Sea. Dolomite spectral analysis of the suspended sediments revealed that certain stations were influenced by Yangtze River-derived sediments. The results demonstrated that the Yangtze River source exerted the strongest influence in 2010, followed by 2012, with the weakest influence observed in 2011. Although stronger winter winds in 2011 led to a broader distribution of the Yellow Sea Warm Current, the influence of Yangtze River-derived sediments was constrained by the low sediment load discharged into the sea. The distribution of Yangtze River-derived sediments in the Yellow Sea during winter is primarily controlled by the sediment load discharged from the Yangtze River into the sea during the summer of that year and secondarily by the strength of the winter monsoon. These findings are critical for understanding sediment dispersal systems, sea-land interactions, and source-sink processes in marginal seas under the dual pressures of increasing human activity and global climate change.

This study presents the first comprehensive investigation on an easily neglected biogeochemical process of phenolic endocrine-disrupting chemical (EDC) capture and carbon sequestration by seagrass detritus. The results showed that Zostera marina L. detritus captured nonylphenol (NP) and bisphenol A (BPA) with high efficiency (>90%) and enhanced organic carbon sequestration in marine ecosystems. Under various seawater-sediment scenarios (pure seawater, nonburial, and burial systems), phenolic EDC rerelease rates were low (<20%), while total organic carbon (TOC) stocks increased by 21.5%-28.8% in EDC-treated groups compared to controls. Kinetic analyses revealed that NP and BPA were rapidly captured onto heterogeneous active sites of the detritus surface, with capture efficiency influenced by the physicochemical properties of contaminants, environmental factors, and the specific characteristics of the detritus. Laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) and density functional theory (DFT) were employed to investigate synergistic mechanisms between phenolic EDCs and carbon at cellular and molecular levels. The lipids mediated NP sequestration through hydrophobic interactions with lipid-rich sites (such as phospholipids), while polysaccharides facilitated BPA binding via electrostatic interactions, highlighting their crucial roles in capturing phenolic EDCs. These findings reinforced the importance of seagrass meadows in capturing emerging contaminants and storing carbon in marine ecosystems.

The highest absolute abundance of ARGs in seawater reached 2.3 × 104 copies/mL. ● Multidrug resistance genes were major ARGs in seawater of many sites. ● Insertion sequences were the dominant MGEs in seawater. ● Prochlorococcus _MIT9313 and Clade_la were the predominant genus in seawater. ● Anthropogenic activities had important effect on ARGs and MGEs. Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) might have great effect on ecological security and human health. Oceans are important reservoirs that receive tremendous amounts of pollutants globally. However, information on the proliferation of ARGs in seawater is still limited. This study performed field sampling to investigate the occurrence and distribution of ARGs in seawater of the South China Sea, which is the deepest and largest sea in China. The results showed that the total absolute abundances of ARGs in seawater samples ranged from 2.1 × 103 to 2.3 × 104 copies/mL, with an of 5.0 × 103 copies/mL and a range of 2.2 × 103–1.8 × 104 copies/mL for those with mobile genetic elements (MGEs). Genes resistant to multidrug, aminoglycoside, tetracycline, and fluoroquinolone antibiotics accounted for 77.3%–88.6% of total ARGs in seawater. Proteobacteria and Cyanobacteria represented 32.1%–56.2% and 30.4%–49.5% of microbial community, respectively. Prochlorococcus_MIT9313 and Clade_la were the prevalent genera in seawater of the South China Sea. Complex co-occurrence relationship existed among ARGs, MGEs, and bacteria. Anthropogenic activities had critical influence on ARGs and MGEs. Hospital wastewater, wastewater treatment plant effluent, sewage, aquaculture tailwater, and runoff were determined as the important sources of ARGs in seawater of the South China Sea based on positive matrix factorization analysis.

Biodegradable plastics have been widely used and their interaction with endocrine disrupting chemicals in the environment is worth exploring. This study selected poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate), poly (butylene succinate), polylactic acid (PLA) and a non-biodegradable microplastics (PE) as control to explore the adsorptiondesorption behavior of nonylphenol (NP) on the biodegradable microplastics in seawater. The adsorption capacity of NP on PLA (60.78 mu g g- 1) was approximately 50% lower than that on PE (116.53 mu g g- 1) which was the non-biodegradable microplastic control. Almost all biodegradable microplastics showed negligible desorption capacity compared to PE, indicating a lower environmental risk of biodegradable microplastics. The pH could influence the interaction between the NP and biodegradable microplastics through the formation of hydrogen bonds. The adsorption-desorption capacity of microplastics might increase at the condition of the high salinity and seawater erosion. Physical adsorption was the major adsorption processes based on the Gibbs free energy changes that calculated. The adsorption mechanism of microplastics was determined by calculating the crystallinity of microplastics, simulating the surface electrostatic potential of microplastics and conducting hydrophilicity tests of microplastics. The adsorption and desorption capacities of NP on biodegradable microplastics were mainly influenced by various mechanisms, including the crystallinity of the microplastics, hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic effects. These results will offer new perspectives on the interaction between biodegradable microplastics and NP in the ocean.

Carbon cloth (CC) coupled with exogenous hydrogen (EH2) was used to promote direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) during anaerobic digestion of waste fat, oil, and grease (FOG). However, whether the change of EH2 injection pattern would further enhance DIET and FOG conversion for methane production is unknown, and the underlying mechanism is not fully understood. In this study, three EH2 injection pressures (0.2/0.4/0.6 atm) and frequencies (once/every 8 days/every 4 days) were chosen to collaborate with CC for investigating the role of EH2 in methane yield during FOG digestion. The results show that, combined with CC, increased EH2 injection pressure/frequency resulted in gradually enhanced DIET to increase FOG conversion rate (from 69.9% to 96.7%), leading to the highest cumulative methane production (1204.9 mL/gVSadded) 58.9% higher than that of Control. During the digestion, the secretion of extracellular polymeric substances was increased by EH2 to promote bioaggregation and electron transfer between cells for enhanced biological DIET in the digestate. The influence of EH2 on the microbial communities on CC surface was bigger than that in suspended sludge, leading to enhanced syntrophic acetate oxidation-hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis (SAO-HM) for acetate conversion on CC. As the amount of EH2 increased, the acetate conversion by SAO-HM via DIET was improved, which simultaneously promoted the syntrophic metabolisms between acidogens/acetogens and methanogens to achieve more efficient FOG conversion. Together, this work provides new insight into the role of EH2 in the enhancement of DIET and methane yield during FOG digestion.

It is of interest to explore the capabilities of the diffusive gradients in thin-films (DGT) as a substitute for smart biomonitoring of metals in aquaculture waters. DGT deployment and transplantation experiments of scallops Argopecten irradians were carried out in the coastal aquaculture waters. The results showed that DGT-labile metal concentrations were relatively stable in the aquaculture and they were in descending order: Zn > Ni > Cu > Pb ≈ Cd. The scallop A. irradians exhibited different abilities of taking up the studied metals from the ambient aquatic environment. Importantly, it demonstrated that DGT responded quicker than biomonitoring of scallops. Overall, it suggested DGT technique as a rapid monitoring method for metal contamination in aquaculture waters and laid a foundation for the standardization of the DGT technique. Besides, it suggested that high organic matter may have a great influence on DGT-labile concentrations, which should be investigated in more detail.

The differentiation of sediment grain size from large river deltas to distal areas in a coastal flow system and its evolution are vital because they greatly contribute to matter transport, pollution accumulation, and carbon cycling on the inner shelf. Here, the Yellow River sedimentary system in the adjacent seas is studied, including the proximal delta of the Yellow River and the distal mud patch. The grain size distributions of the suspended particulate matter (SPM), surface sediments, and core sediments in the Shandong Peninsula Coastal Current (SPCC) system were integrated and analyzed. The results show that apparent variations in the grain size distribution exist in the SPM and sediments in the SPCC system. The grain size distribution of the SPM near the proximal delta of the Yellow River is multimodal and variable with water depth, whereas that in the distal mud area is typically unimodal. The coarse-grained endmember of suspended sediments is restricted in the proximal area by ocean fronts under fair weather conditions in both summer and winter and is only transported to the distal mud area under strengthened coastal currents in winter. In contrast, fine-grained endmembers can be transported far away under tidal currents and coastal currents year-round. The temporal grain size variation near the proximal delta is also significantly affected by historical shifts in the Yellow River mouth, while the strength of coastal currents associated with the East Asian Winter Monsoon (EAWM) controls the grain size distribution in the distal mud area. The roles of river behaviors, ocean fronts, tides, and winds are all highlighted in the control of grain size differentiation. These results potentially have significance for understanding sediment dynamics and mass transport processes in similar coastal current systems involving large rivers worldwide.

The original data presented here is related to the article “Sedimentary record off the Yangtze River estuary and its response to typhoons and human activities over the past 70 years”

Global ecosystems and public health have been greatly impacted by the accumulation of heavy metal(loid)s in water. Source-specific risk apportionment is needed to prevent and manage potential groundwater contamination with heavy metal(loid)s. The heavy metal(loid)s contamination status, water quality, ecological risk, and health risk apportionment of the Shule River Basin groundwater are poorly understood. Therefore, field sampling was performed to explore the water quality and risk of heavy metal(loid)s in the groundwater of the Shule River Basin in northwestern China. A total of 96 samples were collected from the study area to acquire data for water quality and heavy metal(loid)s risk. There was noticeable accumulation of ferrum in the groundwater of the Shule River Basin. The levels of pollution were considered to be moderately low, as evaluated by the degree of contamination, heavy metal evaluation index, heavy metal pollution index, and Nemerow pollution index. The ecological risks were also low. However, an assessment of the water quality index revealed that only 58.34% of the groundwater samples had good water quality. The absolute principal component scores-multiple linear regression model was more suited for this study area than the positive matrix factorization model. There were no obvious noncarcinogenic or carcinogenic concerns for all types of receptors according to the values of the total hazard index and total carcinogenic risk. The human activities and the initial geological environment factor (65.85%) was the major source of noncarcinogenic risk (residential children: 87.56%; residential adults: 87.52%; recreational children: 86.77%; and recreational adults: 85.42%), while the industrial activity factor (16.36%) was the major source of carcinogenic risk (residential receptors: 87.96%; and recreational receptors: 68.73%). These findings provide fundamental and crucial information for reducing the health issues caused by heavy metal(loid)s contamination of groundwater in arid areas.

Microplastics widely exist in diverse matrices to become important hosts of pollutants. Little information regarding adsorption of emerging contaminants on coastal saline soils influenced by co-existing microplastics is available. Thus, the adsorption behaviors of nonylphenol (NP) on coastal saline soil influenced by microplastics were discussed. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC, 4.7 mm), polyethylene (4.85 mm), and polypropylene (4.51 mm) with addition dose of 10% were used to discuss the effect of microplastic type on adsorption of NP by coastal saline soil while PVC samples with size of 4.7 mm and 0.11 mm were used to explore the effect of microplastic size on NP adsorption. The NP adsorption capacity of the saline soil containing 10% of PVC (4.7 mm) was twice that of soil without PVC. Smaller-size PVC (0.11 mm) with addition amount of 10% enhanced the NP adsorption ca-pacity of the coastal saline soil by 117% to reach 8.91 ??g g-1. The desorption capacity of NP on saline soil decreased from 40% to 30% of total adsorption capacity with co-existing PVC. Adsorption/desorption kinetics of NP on coastal saline soil with PVC microplastics could be well explained by pseudo second order model while Freundlich model could better fit the isotherm data of NP adsorption/desorption to show possible occurrence of the multiple-layer adsorption. This study will provide new information regarding the environmental behaviors of typical emerging contaminants on coastal saline soil containing microplastics.

Mixing fronts on the inner shelf of the East China Sea (ECS) are common under normal summer conditions, yet its migration during extreme weather events, such as typhoons, has been poorly understood due to limited availability of observational data. In this study, we used a well-validated Finite-Volume Community Ocean Model (FVCOM) to investigate the intermittent migration of mixing fronts on the inner shelf of the ECS during the passage of Typhoon Chan-hom in July 2015. The sedimentary and ecological effects of the front migration were also revealed. Results suggested that the potential energy anomaly (PEA) of 10 J/m3 could be a critical value to determine the location of the mixing front, which was consistent with that derived from the Simpson-Hunter (SH) parameter. Accordingly, the mixing front showed a rapid seaward migration from 15-m isobaths to 60-m isobaths under the drastic ocean turbulence during the typhoon and recovered shortly after its passage. This intermittent migration of the mixing front had the potential to facilitate cross-shelf material transport during the typhoon. On the one hand, the front migration could not only open the access for the seaward transport of nearshore resuspended sediments but also trap them within a certain area, causing an offshore deposition between 20 and 60 m isobaths south of the typhoon track. The mixing fronts had a boundary effect constraining the typhoon-induced sedimentation. On the other hand, unlike sediments that would settle down with weakened ocean dynamics, the offshore movement of coastal diluted water triggered by the typhoon remained after the front recovery. These nutrient-rich waters could be transported to the middle or even outer shelf of the ECS by the subsequent southwest summer monsoon, enhancing local primary production and potentially trigering significant algal blooms.

The high concentration of manganese (Mn2+) in geothermal water will seriously reduce its utilization rate. Manganese sand has been used to rapidly remove Mn2+ from water. This study investigated the long-term removal of Mn2+ from simulated geothermal water by manganese sand filtration column system. The average Mn2+ removal rate from simulated water with the inlet water temperature of 25, 50, 70 °C were 87.4%, 96.2% and 99.0% during the operation of 90 days. The effluent pH did not change much compared with influent pH value (7.6–8.0). The Mn2+ removal rates during the operation of 90 days with influent concentration of 1, 10, 20 and 50 mg/L were respectively 98.2%, 99.8%, 91.4% and 63.4%. The average removal rates of Mn2+ were respectively 99.8% and 94.0% with the influent flow of 5.2 mL/min and 10.4 mL/min. The temperature change in the manganese sand filtration column was further explored in this paper. The experiment of filtration column heated/non-heated showed that the manganese sand filtration column heated had a better effect of removal which could run for 152 days. The dispersion coefficient (D) analysis derived from inverse modeling showed that a small temperature change in the filtration column system was conducive to the homogenization of manganese sand medium in the column. The Mn2+ removal process of manganese sand filtration column heated was proposed. Surface characteristics analysis of manganese sand in the column after reaction showed that Mn2+ removal mainly occurred in the upper part of the filter column. The surface material of manganese sand in the filtration column heated after operation was manganese oxide material mainly composed of Mn2O3 and MnO2. These findings suggested the potential of manganese sand in the engineering application of removing Mn2+ in geothermal water.

Antibiotic pollution has caused important concern for international and national sustainability. Catalytic ozonation is a quick and efficient technique to remove contaminants in aquatic environment. This study firstly developed a nanosheet-growth technique for synthesizing Li-doped Mg(OH)(2) with dot-sheet hierarchical structure as catalyst to ozonize antibiotics. Metronidazole could be totally removed through ozonation catalyzed by Li-doped Mg(OH)(2) in 10 min. Approximately 97% of metronidazole was eliminated in 10 min even the catalyst was used for 4 times. Reaction rate constant of Li-doped Mg(OH)(2) treatment was about 3.45 times that of nano-Mg(OH)(2) treatment, illustrating that the dot-sheet hierarchical structure of Li-doped Mg(OH)(2) exhibited nano-confinement effect on the catalytic ozonation. Approximately 70.4% of metronidazole was mineralized by cat-alytic ozonation using Li-doped Mg(OH)(2). Temperature of 25 ? was more suitable for catalytic ozonation of metronidazole by Li-doped Mg(OH)(2). Ions generally inhibited the catalytic ozonation of metronidazole while only 0.005 mol L-1 of Cl- slightly enhanced the ozonation rate, illustrating complicated mechanisms existed for ozonation of metronidazole catalyzed by Li-doped Mg(OH)(2). The possible mechanisms of the ozonation of metronidazole using Li-doped Mg(OH)(2) included direct ozonation and ozonation catalyzed by radical & BULL;O-2(-), reactive oxygen species O-1(2) and intermediate (H2O2). The synthesized Mg(OH)(2) nanosheet with dot-sheet hierarchical structure is a novel nanoconfined material with excellent reusability and catalytic performance.

Far-ranging and improper uses of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) over the last few decades have led to severe water contamination that imposes serious effects on human beings and the ecological system. Therefore, there is an increasing demand for a highly-efficient and environmentally friendly technology for the removal of PPCPs from aqueous solutions. Adsorption technology is an appropriate technology to solve this issue. Carbon-based composites, ranging from modified activated carbon to functionalized biochar, show great potential for this purpose. This review hence elaborates on the environmental occurrences and risks of PPCPs and summarizes the recent progress in removing PPCPs from water using carbon-based adsorbents. The pore structure, relatively large specific surface area (SSA), abundant surface functional groups, highly aromatic structures and the extra excellent characteristics of the cooperative materials contribute to their outstanding adsorption performance. Furthermore, the biochar-clay material is cost effective and more efficient compared to traditional activated carbon regarding the adsorption of PPCPs. Among the emerging adsorbents, graphene and carbon nanotubes composites show superior adsorption ability. Their adsorption mechanisms, such as electrostatic interactions, hydrogen bonding, and pore filling, are discussed in details.

Information on rare earth elements (REEs) in soils and plants of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is very limited. Therefore, in this study, we performed field sampling to explore the geochemical signatures and human health risk of REEs in soils and plants of the northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China. A total of 127 soil samples and 127 plant samples were collected from the northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to acquire the geochemical signatures and related human health risks of REEs. The mean total concentrations of REEs in soils and plants of the study area reached 178.55 and 10.06 mg/kg, respectively. The light REEs in soils and plants accounted for 76% and 77% of the total REEs, respectively. REEs showed significantly homogenous distribution in soils but inhomogeneous distribution in plants of the study area. Characteristic parameters indicated that light REEs were enriched and fractionated significantly, while heavy REEs were moderately fractionated in soils and plants. REEs in soils and plants showed significantly negative Europium anomaly. Cerium showed slightly positive anomaly in plants and slight anomaly in soils. The normalized distribution patterns of REEs were generally similar in the analyzed soils and the corresponding plants of the study area. The average bio-concentration factor of REEs ranged from 0.0478 (Scandium) to 0.0604 (Europium), confirming a small accumulation of REEs by plants. Health risks caused by REEs in soils and plants were negligible, while risks for adults were lower than those for children. This study provides important information on REEs in soils and plants of the northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Chloroxylenol (PCMX) is widely used as disinfectant since the epidemic due to its effective killing of Covid-19 virus. Its stable chemical properties make it frequently detected in surface water. Herein, we successfully modified Fe3O4 nanoparticles with S-WO3 (X-Fe3O4/S-WO3)，which has accelerated Fe2+/Fe3+ cycle to efficiently degrade PCMX. The composite has outstanding PCMX degradation and peroxymonosulfate (PMS) decomposition efficiency over a wide pH range (3.0~9.0). 80-Fe3O4/S-WO3/PMS system not only increased PMS decomposition efficiency from 27.7% to 100.0%, but also realized an enhancement of PCMX degradation efficiency by 16 times in comparison with that of Fe3O4 alone. The catalyst utilization efficiency reached 0.3506 mM∙g-1∙min-1 which stands out among most Fenton-like catalysts. The composite has a high degradation ability to a variety of emerging pollutants, such as antibiotics, drugs, phenols and endocrine disrupters, and at least a 90% removal efficiency reached in 10 min. HO•, SO4•-, •O2- and 1O2 co-existed in the 80-Fe3O4/S-WO3/PMS system. The degradation pathways of PCMX were analyzed in detail. The component WS2 in S-WO3 plays a co-catalytic role instead of WO3. And the exposed active W4+surf. efficiently enhanced the Fe3+/Fe2+ cycle, thereby complete PMS decomposition and high catalytic efficiency were achieved. Our findings clarify that applying two-dimensional transition metal sulfide WS2 to modify heterogeneous Fe3O4 is a feasible strategy to improve Fenton-like reaction and provide a promising catalyst for PCMX degradation.

To investigate the combination of carbon-based conductive materials and exogenous hydrogen (EH2) on methane recovery from fat, oil, and grease (FOG), granular activated carbon (GAC) and carbon cloth (CC) were chosen to collaborate with EH2, resulting in increased methane production by 59 % and 84 %, respectively. Further digestion of long chain fatty acids (LCFAs) confirms that enhanced direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) was achieved in the reactors with GAC/CC + EH2 than those with GAC/CC only. Other evidences (such as increased microbial population and rapid degradation of volatile fatty acids) were found to support the role of GAC/CC + EH2 in promotion of DIET. Significant change of microbial community was observed using GAC/CC + EH2, which was mainly attributed to the enrichment of electrogenic species (such as Spirochaetaceae, Syntrophomonas palmitatica, and Methanosaeta), leading to some changes in metabolic pathways during acidogenesis and methanogenesis. Together, enhanced DIET was achieved by GAC/CC + EH2, thus improving the methane recovery from FOG.