Avaliação da ecotoxicidade de percolados em áreas de disposição de resíduos na região metropolitana de Natal/RN

Leachates are effluent produced by decomposition of solid waste, they have complex composition and can be highly toxic. Therefore such percolated liquid should be collected and treated properly to avoid environmental contamination of soil and of water bodies. The objective of this study was to evaluate the toxicity through ecotoxicological tests with Ceriodaphnia dubia (Cladocera - Crustacea) of percolated liquids generated in two different systems of municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal in the city of Natal/ RN: A Sanitary Landfill in the Metropolitan Region of Natal/ RN, and in a dump off area. Furthermore, it was evaluated the possible contamination of the underground water of the dump off area. Two monthly samples were taken at four points between the months of May/2009 and January/2010. The Point "A" corresponds to the end of the pond leachate treatment in ASRMN; The Point "B" corresponds to a containment pond at the dump. The Point "C" is an area near one of the cells of the dump off area where the leachate outcrops; The Point "D" stands for an underground water well at the area. The last point, called "E" was sampled only once and corresponds to the slurry produced by temporary accumulation of solid waste in the open area of the dump. The ecotoxicological tests, acute and chronic, followed the ABNT 13373/2005 rules, with some modifications. The samples were characterized by measuring the pH number, the dissolved oxygen (DO), the salinity, BOD5, COD, Cd, Cu, Pb, Cr, Fe, Mg, Ni, and Zn. At Point A, the average number of EC50-48h ranged between 1.0% and 2.77% (v/v), showing a high toxicity of the leachate to C.dubia in all months. To this point, positive correlations were found between the EC50- 48 with precipitation. Negative correlations were found between the EC50- 48h with salinity. At point B there was no response of the acute exposure of organisms to the test samples. At point C the EC50-48h ranged from 17.68% to 35.36% in just two months of the five ones analyzed, not correlated meaning. Point D, the EC50-48h level ranged between 12.31% and 71.27%, showed a negative correlation with, only, precipitation. Although it was observed toxicity of underground water in the Landfill Area, there was no evidence of water contamination by leachate, however, due to the toxic character of this water, additional tests should be conducted to confirm the quality of water that is used for human supply. At point E there was no acute toxicity. These results support the dangers of inappropriate disposal of MSW to water bodies due to the high toxicity of the leachate produced highlighting the necessity of places of safe confinement and a treatment system more effective to it

Avaliação de HPA e BTEX no solo e água subterrânea, em postos de revenda de combustíveis: estudo de caso na cidade de Natal -RN

The retail fuel stations are partially or potentially polluters and generators of environmental accidents, potentially causing contamination of underground and surface water bodies, soil and air. Leaks in fuel retail stations´ underground storage systems are often detected in Brazil and around the world. Monoaromatic hydrocarbons, BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are an indication of the presence of contamination due to its high toxicity. This paper presents a case study of contamination in a Fuel Retail Station by petroleum derivative products in the city of Natal. For identification and quantification of the hydrocarbons, EPA analytical methods were used. The values of benzene quantified by EPA method 8021b CG-PID/FID, ranged from 1.164 to 4.503 mg.Kg-1 in soil samples, and from 12.10 to 27,639 μg.L-1 in underground water samples. Among the PAHs, naphthalene and anthracene showed the most significant results in soil samples, 0.420 to 15.46 mg.Kg-1 and 0.110 to 0,970 mg.Kg-1, respectively. In underground water samples, the results for Naphthalene varied between 0.759 and 614.7 μg.L-1. PAHs were quantified by EPA Method 8270 for GCMS. All of the results for the chemical analysis were compared with the values for the CONAMA 420/2009 resolution. The results for benzene (27,639 μg.L-1) showed levels highly above the recommended by the CONAMA 420 resolution, wherein the maximum permissible for underground water is 5 μg.L-1. This is a worrying factor, since underground water makes up 70% of the city of Natal´s water supply

Avaliação dos impactos ambientais gerados por uma industria cerâmica típica da Região do Seridó/RN

The present work deals with an evaluation of the environmental impacts arised from a typical ceramics industry located in the Seridó region of Rio Grande do Norte State. That region contains the largest State s producing basin of red ceramics. The district of Parelhas stands out as the largest producing nucleus. The studied company is located in the rural zone of Parelhas, it was selected as study object because it possesses a great part of the representative characteristics of the Region s ceramics park as a whole. Impacts produced at the implantation and operation phases of the Company had been evaluated, being this last phase subdivided in stages of the productive process. Among found adverse impacts, they are distinguished: losses in air quality, undesirable noises, microclimatic alterations, impoverishment of the ground, elimination of the vegetal covering, agricultural exodus, crisis in cattle agriculture and, superficial and underground water contamination, beyond risks ocupational diseases and industrial accidents. The Leopold s interactive matrix, that summarizes results of the work, was presented in form of 15 (fifteen) tables that display impacts classified in qualitative and quantitative way. Totally, 175 (one hundred and seventy-five) significant impacts produced by this Company had been identified, being 114 (one hundred and fourteen) negative, 38 (thirty-eight) positive and 23 (twenty-three) among mixed, indefinite and inert ones. In the work, before the evaluation of impacts properly said, it was constructed a diagnostic table of the ambient situation at a previous moment to implantation of the Company, elaborated on basis of inferences and historical researches. It was proposed still, mitigative steps for adverse impacts identified, as also elaborated a program to accompaniment and observing that the fulfilment of indicated mitigative steps guarantees. The final part of the work contemplates conclusions and suggestions that aim to influence positively the presented sight in terms of environmental management

Mapeamento geoambiental do campo de dunas Pirangi-Potengi com ênfase a San Vale e Lagoinha Natal/RN: um instrumento de apoio ao planejamento ambiental

The city of Natal-RN is constructed on dune areas with wavy relives softly waved and green areas that help to keep a pleasant climate, amongst these is distinguished field Pirangi-Potengi the dune with the areas of San Vale and Lagoinha. These environments are being substituted gradual for property and other workmanships of engineering on behalf of the urban expansion. This study the elaboration of a geoambiental mapping of Field had as objective generality Pirangi-Potengi the Dune with emphasis the San Vale and Lagoinha in Natal-RN. The done mapping had as objective specific to elaborate a vegetation map, a map of registers in cadastre of ambient problems to dunes, a map of flooding susceptibility, a map of vulnerability to the underground water contamination and a map of use and occupation of the ground. Of the carried through analysis, the area in study reveals sufficiently degraded, remaining only few green areas and dunares, as well as, the vulnerable presence of areas of vulnerability in floods and areas the contamination of the water-bearing one. The gotten results allow to affirm that this type of mapping, is of great importance for analysis and evaluation of the environment of the city

Processamento e interpretação de dados 2D e 3D de GPR :aplicações no imageamento de feições kársticas e estruturas de dissolução no campo de petróleo de Fazenda Belém-CE

In Fazenda Belém oil field (Potiguar Basin, Ceará State, Brazil) occur frequently sinkholes and sudden terrain collapses associated to an unconsolidated sedimentary cap covering the Jandaíra karst. This research was carried out in order to understand the mechanisms of generation of these collapses. The main tool used was Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). This work is developed twofold: one aspect concerns methodology improvements in GPR data processing whilst another aspect concerns the geological study of the Jandaíra karst. This second aspect was strongly supported both by the analysis of outcropping karst structures (in another regions of Potiguar Basin) and by the interpretation of radargrams from the subsurface karst in Fazenda Belém. It was designed and tested an adequate flux to process GPR data which was adapted from an usual flux to process seismic data. The changes were introduced to take into account important differences between GPR and Reflection Seismic methods, in particular: poor coupling between source and ground, mixed phase of the wavelet, low signal-to-noise ratio, monochannel acquisition, and high influence of wave propagation effects, notably dispersion. High frequency components of the GPR pulse suffer more pronounced effects of attenuation than low frequency components resulting in resolution losses in radargrams. In Fazenda Belém, there is a stronger need of an suitable flux to process GPR data because both the presence of a very high level of aerial events and the complexity of the imaged subsurface karst structures. The key point of the processing flux was an improvement in the correction of the attenuation effects on the GPR pulse based on their influence on the amplitude and phase spectra of GPR signals. In low and moderate losses dielectric media the propagated signal suffers significant changes only in its amplitude spectrum; that is, the phase spectrum of the propagated signal remains practically unaltered for the usual travel time ranges. Based on this fact, it is shown using real data that the judicious application of the well known tools of time gain and spectral balancing can efficiently correct the attenuation effects. The proposed approach can be applied in heterogeneous media and it does not require the precise knowledge of the attenuation parameters of the media. As an additional benefit, the judicious application of spectral balancing promotes a partial deconvolution of the data without changing its phase. In other words, the spectral balancing acts in a similar way to a zero phase deconvolution. In GPR data the resolution increase obtained with spectral balancing is greater than those obtained with spike and predictive deconvolutions. The evolution of the Jandaíra karst in Potiguar Basin is associated to at least three events of subaerial exposition of the carbonatic plataform during the Turonian, Santonian, and Campanian. In Fazenda Belém region, during the mid Miocene, the Jandaíra karst was covered by continental siliciclastic sediments. These sediments partially filled the void space associated to the dissolution structures and fractures. Therefore, the development of the karst in this region was attenuated in comparison to other places in Potiguar Basin where this karst is exposed. In Fazenda Belém, the generation of sinkholes and terrain collapses are controlled mainly by: (i) the presence of an unconsolidated sedimentary cap which is thick enough to cover completely the karst but with sediment volume lower than the available space associated to the dissolution structures in the karst; (ii) the existence of important structural of SW-NE and NW-SE alignments which promote a localized increase in the hydraulic connectivity allowing the channeling of underground water, thus facilitating the carbonatic dissolution; and (iii) the existence of a hydraulic barrier to the groundwater flow, associated to the Açu-4 Unity. The terrain collapse mechanisms in Fazenda Belém occur according to the following temporal evolution. The meteoric water infiltrates through the unconsolidated sedimentary cap and promotes its remobilization to the void space associated with the dissolution structures in Jandaíra Formation. This remobilization is initiated at the base of the sedimentary cap where the flow increases its abrasion due to a change from laminar to turbulent flow regime when the underground water flow reaches the open karst structures. The remobilized sediments progressively fill from bottom to top the void karst space. So, the void space is continuously migrated upwards ultimately reaching the surface and causing the sudden observed terrain collapses. This phenomenon is particularly active during the raining season, when the water table that normally is located in the karst may be temporarily located in the unconsolidated sedimentary cap

Implicações tectônicas na hidrologia do aqüífero Barreiras e sistema lacustre do Bonfim, Nísia Floresta-RN

This MSc dissertation presents the results of a research carried out in a 500 km2 area in the Nísia Floresta county. The main goal of the research was to evaluate fault influence on hidrology features of aquifers and lakes, mainly in the Barreiras Group and in the Bonfim lake cluster respectively. The Precambrian crystalline basement is made of Caicó Complex rocks. They are capped by cretaceous sedimentary rocks and by cenozoic sedimentary rocks. Only the latter outcrop in the study area, wheareas the former are described in boreholes. Faults cut across all stratigraphic units and their main trends are NW, NE and E-W, which have been generated by E-W compression. Subordinate N-S trending faults also take place and have been generated by N-S oriented compression. Fault controlled hydrologic features are observed throughout the study area. There are sudden changes in saturated thicknesses of the Barreiras Aquifer due to vertical displacement of the Barreiras Group. The most important underground water source of the Bonfim Lake is related to abrupt thickness changes of the aquifer. In addition, the main faults control the underground drainage network and, probably, change in direction of equipotential surfaces seen on the potenciometric map. Regarding the surface hydrologic features, faults also control river and stream channels, as well as lake origin and shapes. The Bonfim Lake, in particular, has its peculiar shape, which follows NW and NE lineaments, and origin related to faulting and probably underground carstics processes

Estruturas de acumulação de água subterrânea em rochas cristalinas: estudo geofísico e geológico de casos no Estado do Rio Grande do Norte

Geological and geophysical studies (resistivity, self potential and VLF) were undertaken in the Tararaca and Santa Rita farms, respectively close to the Santo Antônio and Santa Cruz villages, eastern Rio Grande do Norte State, NE Brazil. Their aim was to characterize water acummulation structures in crystalline rocks. Based on geological and geophysical data, two models were characterized, the fracture-stream and the eluvio-alluvial through, in part already described in the literature. In the Tararaca Farm, a water well was located in a NW-trending streamlet; surrounding outcrops display fractures with the same orientation. Apparent resistivity sections, accross the stream channel, confirm fracturing at depth. The VLF profiles systematically display an alignment of equivalent current density anomalies, coinciding with the stream. Based on such data, the classical fracture-stream model seems to be well characterized at this place. In the Santa Rita Farm, a NE-trending stream display a metric-thick eluvioregolith-alluvial cover. The outcropping bedrock do not present fractures paralell to the stream direction, although the latter coincides with the trend of the gneiss foliation, which dips to the south. Geophysical data confirm the absence of a fracture zone at this place, but delineate the borders of a through-shaped structure filled with sediments (alluvium and regolith). The southern border of this structure dips steeper compared to the northern one. This water acummulation structure corresponds to an alternative model as regards to the classical fracture-stream, being named as the eluvio-alluvial trough. Its local controls are the drainage and relief, coupled with the bedrock weathering preferentially following foliation planes, generating the asymmetry of the through

Avaliação da ecotoxicidade de percolados em áreas de disposição de resíduos na região metropolitana de Natal/RN

Leachates are effluent produced by decomposition of solid waste, they have complex composition and can be highly toxic. Therefore such percolated liquid should be collected and treated properly to avoid environmental contamination of soil and of water bodies. The objective of this study was to evaluate the toxicity through ecotoxicological tests with Ceriodaphnia dubia (Cladocera - Crustacea) of percolated liquids generated in two different systems of municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal in the city of Natal/ RN: A Sanitary Landfill in the Metropolitan Region of Natal/ RN, and in a dump off area. Furthermore, it was evaluated the possible contamination of the underground water of the dump off area. Two monthly samples were taken at four points between the months of May/2009 and January/2010. The Point "A" corresponds to the end of the pond leachate treatment in ASRMN; The Point "B" corresponds to a containment pond at the dump. The Point "C" is an area near one of the cells of the dump off area where the leachate outcrops; The Point "D" stands for an underground water well at the area. The last point, called "E" was sampled only once and corresponds to the slurry produced by temporary accumulation of solid waste in the open area of the dump. The ecotoxicological tests, acute and chronic, followed the ABNT 13373/2005 rules, with some modifications. The samples were characterized by measuring the pH number, the dissolved oxygen (DO), the salinity, BOD5, COD, Cd, Cu, Pb, Cr, Fe, Mg, Ni, and Zn. At Point A, the average number of EC50-48h ranged between 1.0% and 2.77% (v/v), showing a high toxicity of the leachate to C.dubia in all months. To this point, positive correlations were found between the EC50- 48 with precipitation. Negative correlations were found between the EC50- 48h with salinity. At point B there was no response of the acute exposure of organisms to the test samples. At point C the EC50-48h ranged from 17.68% to 35.36% in just two months of the five ones analyzed, not correlated meaning. Point D, the EC50-48h level ranged between 12.31% and 71.27%, showed a negative correlation with, only, precipitation. Although it was observed toxicity of underground water in the Landfill Area, there was no evidence of water contamination by leachate, however, due to the toxic character of this water, additional tests should be conducted to confirm the quality of water that is used for human supply. At point E there was no acute toxicity. These results support the dangers of inappropriate disposal of MSW to water bodies due to the high toxicity of the leachate produced highlighting the necessity of places of safe confinement and a treatment system more effective to it

Avaliação de HPA e BTEX no solo e água subterrânea, em postos de revenda de combustíveis: estudo de caso na cidade de Natal -RN

The retail fuel stations are partially or potentially polluters and generators of environmental accidents, potentially causing contamination of underground and surface water bodies, soil and air. Leaks in fuel retail stations´ underground storage systems are often detected in Brazil and around the world. Monoaromatic hydrocarbons, BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are an indication of the presence of contamination due to its high toxicity. This paper presents a case study of contamination in a Fuel Retail Station by petroleum derivative products in the city of Natal. For identification and quantification of the hydrocarbons, EPA analytical methods were used. The values of benzene quantified by EPA method 8021b CG-PID/FID, ranged from 1.164 to 4.503 mg.Kg-1 in soil samples, and from 12.10 to 27,639 μg.L-1 in underground water samples. Among the PAHs, naphthalene and anthracene showed the most significant results in soil samples, 0.420 to 15.46 mg.Kg-1 and 0.110 to 0,970 mg.Kg-1, respectively. In underground water samples, the results for Naphthalene varied between 0.759 and 614.7 μg.L-1. PAHs were quantified by EPA Method 8270 for GCMS. All of the results for the chemical analysis were compared with the values for the CONAMA 420/2009 resolution. The results for benzene (27,639 μg.L-1) showed levels highly above the recommended by the CONAMA 420 resolution, wherein the maximum permissible for underground water is 5 μg.L-1. This is a worrying factor, since underground water makes up 70% of the city of Natal´s water supply