Emissions volcanoes

An erupting volcano emits particulate matter. Pollutant gases such as SO2, HiS, and methane are also emitted. The emission from an eruption... 

The application of control technology to air pollution problems assumes that a source can be reduced to a predetermined level to meet a regulation or some unknown minimum value. Control technology carmot be applied to an uncontrollable source, such as a volcano, nor can it be expected to control a source completely to reduce emissions to zero. The cost of controlling any given air pollution source is usually an exponential function of the percentage of control and therefore becomes an important consideration in the level of control required (1). Figure 28-1 shows a typical cost curve for control equipment. 

Some naturally occurring organohalogen compounds are produced in massive quantities. Forest fires, volcanoes, and marine kelp release up to 5 million tons of CH3CI per year, for example, while annual industrial emissions... 

Figure 4-13 shows an example from a three-dimensional model simulation of the global atmospheric sulfur balance (Feichter et al, 1996). The model had a grid resolution of about 500 km in the horizontal and on average 1 km in the vertical. The chemical scheme of the model included emissions of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) from the oceans and SO2 from industrial processes and volcanoes. Atmospheric DMS is oxidized by the hydroxyl radical to form SO2, which, in turn, is further oxidized to sulfuric acid and sulfates by reaction with either hydroxyl radical in the gas phase or with hydrogen peroxide or ozone in cloud droplets. Both SO2 and aerosol sulfate are removed from the atmosphere by dry and wet deposition processes. The reasonable agreement between the simulated and observed wet deposition of sulfate indicates that the most important processes affecting the atmospheric sulfur balance have been adequately treated in the model. 

Gerlach, T.M. (1991) Present-day CO2 emission from volcanoes. EOS (Trans Am. Geophys. Union), 72,... 

Helens emissions An estimation of the magma reservoir volume. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 28 85-89 Le Cloarec M-F, Allard P, Ardouin B, Giggenbach WF, Sheppard DS (1992) Radioactive isotopes and trace elements in gaseous emissions from White Island, New Zealand. Earth Planet Sci Lett 108 19-28 Le Cloarec M-F, Pennisi M, Corazza E, Lambert G (1994) Origin of fumarolic flnids emitted from a nonerapting volcano Radionuchde constraints at Vulcano (Aeolian Islands, Italy). Geochim Cosmochim Acta 58 4401-4410... 

The second important source for the hydrosphere and the oceans are asteroids and comets. Estimating the amount of water which was brought to Earth from outer space is not easy. Until 20 years ago, it was believed that the only source of water for the hydrosphere was gas emission from volcanoes. The amount of water involved was, however, unknown (Rubey, 1964). First estimates of the enormous magnitude of the bombardment to which the Earth and the other planets were subjected caused researchers to look more closely at the comets and asteroids. New hypotheses on the possible sources of water in the hydrosphere now exist the astronomer A. H. Delsemme from the University of Toledo, Ohio, considers it likely that the primeval Earth was formed from material in a dust cloud containing anhydrous silicate. If this is correct, all the water in today s oceans must be of exogenic origin (Delsemme, 1992). 

Natural sources of airborne nickel include soil dust, sea salt, volcanoes, forest fires, and vegetation exudates and account for about 16% of the atmospheric nickel burden (Kasprzak 1987 WHO 1991 Chau and Kulikovsky-Cordeiro 1995). Human sources of atmospheric nickel — which account for about 84% of all atmospheric nickel — include emissions from nickel ore mining, smelting, and refining activities combustion of fossil fuels for heating, power, and motor vehicles ... 

Parnell, R.A. Burke, K. 1990. Impacts of acid emissions from Nevado del Ruiz volcano, Columbia, on selected terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Journal Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 42, 69-88. 

We can t do much about the volcanoes, but we do need to address the anthropogenic emissions. To do so, we need to know where these come from. Historically, there is no doubt that the chlor-alkali industry was one of the biggest anthropogenic sources. However, the industry has reduced its emissions by an order of magnitude and it no longer represents a major source. Annual emissions of the West European... 

The resulting CO2 gas is returned to the atmosphere by two means (1) volcanic emissions associated with eruptions near subduction zones, i.e., back-arc volcanoes or (2) diffusion through the sediments of the continental rise into the ocean, followed by gas exchange across the air-sea interfece. The combined production of CO2 from these two settings is thought to exceed that from the high-temperature hydrothermal reaction zones. 

Little snlfnr is re-emitted from wetlands into the atmosphere. Table 8.7 gives estimates of global emissions of volatile sulfur compounds from different sources. Total emissions are in the range 98 to 120 Tg (S) year 75 % is anthropogenic, mainly from fossil fnel combustion in the northern hemisphere. The main natural sources are the oceans and volcanoes. Wetlands and soils contribnte less than 3 % of the total emission. 

Toluene is released into the atmosphere principally from the volatilization of petroleum fuels and toluene-based solvents and thinners and in motor vehicle exhaust. It is also present in emissions from volcanoes, forest fires and crude oil. It has been detected at low levels in surface water, groundwater, drinking-water and soil samples (United States National Library of Medicine, 1997). 

By far the most important compound of oxygen and hydrogen is water, HzO. Water is essential to life as we know it and possibly to life anywhere in the universe. A lot of it arrived on Earth from outer space in the form of comets, which are like huge dirty snowballs. When the Earth was young, comets collided with it frequently, and each one brought huge amounts of water to the planet. Another source of water was the rocks from which the young Earth initially formed. The water locked up inside these solids is released when they melt in the depths of the Earth. The emission from volcanoes—even today—contains vast quantities of water. 

The transport of copper and lead in the vapour phase under such volcanic conditions is well documented. While the Cu3Clj trimer might be important for the former, abundant evidence for CuCl(g) has accrued. It has been observed spectrographically in volcanic flames at Kilaue,158 and in high-temperature volcanic gases by other workers.159,160 The sublimation of CuCl from lavas leading to the crystallization of primary atacamite, Cu3(OH)3Cl, upon condensation has also been reported.161 Zinc may also be transported as the volatile chloride under the same conditions and has been noted in fumarolic emissions from the Showashinzan volcano, Japan.162... 

Dichloromethane is a widely used industrial and academic laboratory solvent. New natural sources are recognized subsequent to the previous review, although the amounts are small compared to industrial emissions (Table 3.2). These include estimates of biomass combustion (256, 283, 286), oceanic sources (250, 253, 256, 275, 302), wetlands (275), and volcanoes (216, 217). Macroalgae (Desmarestia... 

Studies of volcanoes (Vulcano, Mt. Etna, Kuju, and Satsuma-Iwojima) have found CH3Br in the fumarolic emissions (216, 217). 

Schwandner FM, Seward TM, Gize AP, Hall PA, Dietrich VJ (2004) Diffuse Emission of Organic Trace Gases from the Flank and Crater of a Quiescent Active Volcano (Vulcano, Aeolian Islands, Italy). J Geophys Res 109 D04301... 

Globally, volcanoes release about 17 150 metric tons (t) of arsenic per year into the atmosphere (It equals 1000 kg (Matschullat, 2000), 300). Other significant natural sources of gaseous arsenic emissions include geothermal vents, wind erosion of soils and sediments, forest and coal seam fires, and sea spray ((Cullen and Reimer, 1989), 740 (Nriagu, 1989) Chapter 3). Under reducing conditions in soils, fungi and... 

Quiseft, J.P., Toutain, J.P., Bergametti, G. et al. (1989) Evolution versus cooling of gaseous volcanic emissions from Momotombo Volcano, Nicaragua thermochemical model and observations. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 53, 2591-608. 

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