Search results for "calcareous"
showing 10 items of 74 documents
Unexplored alternative use of calcareous sludge from the paper-pulp industry in green geopolymer construction materials
2020
Abstract Calcareous sludge is an alkaline waste produced by the paper pulp industry that is commonly disposed of in land-fill. However, recent studies and the European regulations discourage such practice. This work investigates an alternative and innovative way to recycle and reuse this waste, as filler, in the production of green geopolymeric mortars intended for applications in construction. This is the first time that this calcareous sludge is used to produce novel waste-based materials, in both construction and geopolymer technology. The novel alkali-activated mortar also uses biomass fly ash – another slightly investigated waste stream – to substitute the metakaolin (70 wt% substituti…
Biocalcite and Carbonic Acid Activators
2017
Based on evolution of biomineralizing systems and energetic considerations, there is now compelling evidence that enzymes play a driving role in the formation of the inorganic skeletons from the simplest animals, the sponges, up to humans. Focusing on skeletons based on calcium minerals, the principle enzymes involved are the carbonic anhydrase (formation of the calcium carbonate-based skeletons of many invertebrates like the calcareous sponges, as well as deposition of the calcium carbonate bioseeds during human bone formation) and the alkaline phosphatase (providing the phosphate for bone calcium phosphate-hydroxyapatite formation). These two enzymes, both being involved in human bone for…
Single nanogranules preserve intracrystalline amorphicity in biominerals.
2015
We revisit the ultrastructural features of different calcareous biominerals and identify remarkable similarities: taxonomically very distant species show a common nanogranular structure, even if different extracellular secretion patterns are employed or calcium carbonate polymorphs formed. By these analyses, we elucidate the locus of the small fraction of intracrystalline organic matrix revealing its intergranular character and localize the intracrystalline amorphous calcium carbonate moiety commonly found in mesocrystalline biominerals and provide a first explanation for the pathway by which it is preserved.
Field and microcosm experiments to evaluate the effects of agricultural Cu treatment on the density and genetic structure of microbial communities in…
2006
The effects of Cu amendment on indigenous soil microorganisms were investigated in two soils, a calcareous silty clay (Ep) and a sandy soil (Au), by means of a 1-year field experiment and a two-month microcosm incubation. Cu was added as 'Bordeaux mixture' [CuSO(4), Ca(OH)(2)] at the standard rate used in viticulture (B1=16 kg Cu kg(-1) soil) and at a higher level of contamination (B3=48 kg Cu ha(-1) soil). More extractable Cu was observed in sandy soil (Au) than in silty soil (Ep). Furthermore, total Cu and Cu-EDTA declined with time in Au soil, whereas they remained stable in Ep soil. Quantitative modifications of the microflora were assessed by C-biomass measurements and qualitative modi…
Common genetic denominators for Ca++-based skeleton in Metazoa: role of osteoclast-stimulating factor and of carbonic anhydrase in a calcareous spong…
2012
Calcium-based matrices serve predominantly as inorganic, hard skeletal systems in Metazoa from calcareous sponges [phylum Porifera; class Calcarea] to proto- and deuterostomian multicellular animals. The calcareous sponges form their skeletal elements, the spicules, from amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC). Treatment of spicules from Sycon raphanus with sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) results in the disintegration of the ACC in those skeletal elements. Until now a distinct protein/enzyme involved in ACC metabolism could not been identified in those animals. We applied the technique of phage display combinatorial libraries to identify oligopeptides that bind to NaOCl-treated spicules: those oligop…
Differenziazione e quantificazione dei carbonati litogenici e pedogenici di Gypsisuoli forestali attraverso l'analisi isotopica
2004
Gli autori riferiscono sui tipi e sui modelli di genesi dei carbonati dei suoli, attraverso l’uso degli isotopi del 13C. Lo studio è stato condotto in un’area dell’interno collinare argilloso siciliano, su suoli che evolvono sui depositi evaporitici della Serie Gessoso-Solfifera. Sono stati scelti cinque pedon su litotipi calcarei e non. I pedon sono stati descritti in campo e campionati secondo la sequenza degli orizzonti genetici; sui campioni di suolo sono state eseguite le seguenti analisi: tessitura, reazione, conducibilità elettrica, gesso, carbonio organico ed inorganico. Inoltre, parallelamente sono state eseguite le analisi isotopiche del carbonio organico ed inorganico. I risultat…
The Calabrian Stage redefined
2008
The name Calabrian was introduced in the geological literature by the French stratigrapher Maurice Gignoux in 1910, and later described in his important monograph (633 pages) "Les formations marines pliocènes et quaternaires de l'Italie du sud et de la Sicile" published in 1913. Detailed data were provided on several sections (Santa Maria di Catanzaro, Caraffa, Monasterace, Palermo) and on their fossil content. The Calabrian Stage has commonly been used for over fifty years as the oldest subdivision of the Quaternary, notably in the time scales of Berggren & van Couvering (1974) and Haq & Eysinga (1987). However, after the GSSP for the Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary (P/P) was approved by INQ…
Microbial acidification and pH effects on trace element release from sewage sludge.
2003
Leaching of sludge-borne trace elements has been observed in experimental and field studies. The role of microbial processes in the mobilization of trace elements from wastewater sludge is poorly defined. Our objectives were to determine trace element mobilization from sludge subjected to treatments representing microbial acidification, direct chemical acidification and no acidification, and to determine the readsorption potential of mobilized elements using calcareous sand. Triplicate columns (10-cm diameter) for incubation and leaching of sludge had a top layer of digested dewatered sludge (either untreated, acidified with H2SO4, or limed with CaCO3; all mixed with glass beads to prevent …
INTEGRATED CALCAREOUS PLANKTON BIOSTRATIGRAPHY OF SELECTED MIOCENE SUCCESSIONS IN THE NORTHERN CALABRIA (ITALY).
2005
An integrated calcareous plankton biostratigraphic approach on six sections cropping out in Northern Calabria allowed to define a revised chronostratigraphic framework for Tortonian-Messinian deposits. Four sections have been investigated in the Amantea Basin (Timpone Napoli, Vallone Salina, Case Vespano, and Cozzo Salice) and two in the Rossano Basin (Vallone Casino and Cozzo Sant'Isidoro). Biostratigraphic analyses have been based on quantitative counting of planktonic foraminifers and semiquantitative counting of nannofossils. The Timpone Napoli and Vallone Salina sections are Late Tortonian in age and referable to the Globorotalia suterae Zone. In terms of nannofossils zonal scheme thes…
Calcareous Nannofossil Biostratigraphy of the Central Mediterranean Basin during the last 430 000 years
2009
Quantitative analyses on over 2300 samples were carried ut on late Quaternary calcareous nannofossil assemblages from a central Mediterranean Sea sedimentary sequence (ODP Site 963A). Our results indicate that Emiliania huxleyi dominated the assemblages between 0 and 45.7 kyr BP; Gephyrocapsa muellerae between 45.7 and 177.3 kyr BP; small Gephyrocapsa between 177.3 and 263.5 kyr BP; Gephyrocapsa caribbeanica from 263.5 kyr BP down to the basal sample of our investigation, at about 430 kyr BP A comparison with similar reports from Atlantic Ocean sites indicates that the boundaries of the acme intervals identified in this study fall within the same Marine Isotopic Stages as the Atlantic Ocean…