SUMMARY

Identifying the effect of geological conditions and processes on community health

Nguyễn Xuân Khiển, Nguyễn Anh Tuấn

Geological processes, such as volcanic eruption, tectono-magmatism, hydrothermal, metamorphism, weathering, sedimentation, have transported materials in their own ways. These different pathways are the important reasons causing the deficiency or excess of some elements, which may affect directly on ecological environmental quality, man and wild life. Typical processes are:

1. The explosive eruption of active volcanoes supplies huge amount of gas and dust into the air, which may cause climate change on the Earth and contaminate the environment. At the same time, a great amount of lava flow, volcanic foam, mud, rubble and ash have spreaded out at high speed, on large areas around the volcanic crater. These activities may threat the wild life, damage and destroy infrastructures, if there are no effective forecast and prevention.

2. Weathering process, especially the chemical weathering, may break down the rock and mineral structures, leading to the redistribution of elements in the upper lithosphere. The environment in/or around the sulfur and uranium ore areas is strongly surferred from weathering process of the ore forming minerals.

3. Depositional process of weathering products of ancient geological bodies are the result from the chemical precipitation and dissociation, in which, the mineral/element assemblage of old rocks have broken down to form a new mineral/element assemblage in new geoenvironment. As the results, some elements have concentrated or spreaded out in the geoenvironment. Some toxic compounds might be transported by depositional processes, and then precipitated in some basins, causing the risk of pollution to the ecologic environment.

Ngày nhận bài: 15/07/2008

Người biên tập: Võ Công Nghiệp