Fomesafen, 5-[2-chloro-4-(trifluoromethyl)phenoxy]-N-(methylsulfonyl)-2-nitrobenzamide, is used widely for weed control in soybeans since its introduction to China. Little information is available on its adsorption, desorption and movement in Chinese soils. The adsorption, desorption and mobility of fomesafen in six Chinese soils was studied. Adsorption isotherms agreed with the Freundlich equation very well. The results of regressionanalysis indicated that soil pH was more important than organic matter for fomesafen adsorption. Fomesafen was more readily desorbed from soils with 0.01 M CaSO₄solution. Soil TLC and column leaching studies showed that fomesafen and its metabolites was less mobile in Chinese soils. About 89.82% of applied fomesafen and its metabolites still remained in upper 5 cm layer 60 days after treatment under field conditions.

Assessing metal contamination of sediments requires knowledge of the geochemical partitioning of trace metals at the sediment-water interface. Under controlled laboratory conditions, sequential extraction was conducted to determine the associations of metals (Cd, Cr, and Zn) and radiotracers (¹⁰⁹Cd,⁵¹Cr, and⁶⁵Zn) with various geochemical phases and the different partitioning and mobility of metals for two types of surface sediments collected from the Huanghe and Changjiang Rivers in Eastern China. The residual phase was the major phase for stable metal binding, indicating that these sediments had little subjection to recent anthropogenic influences. Fe–Mn oxides were the next important binding phases for metals. The partitioning of metals in various geochemical phases as a function of the duration of the radiolabeling was also examined. Trace metals transferred among the different geochemical phases over the 30 days radiolabeling period, particularly between the carbonate and Fe–Mn oxides phases. The freshwater-sediment distribution coefficients (Kd) of three metals were investigated in batch experiments using the radiotracer technique. The decreasing Kdwith increasing metal concentration(from 0.5 to 200 μg L⁻¹) may be explained by competitive adsorption. The metal Kdin sediments from the Changjiang River was greater than those from the Huanghe River, presumably because of the higher Fe/Mn and organic carbon contents in Changjiang River sediment. The Kddecreased with increasing total suspended solid load from 3 to 500 mg L⁻¹, and was Cr > Zn > Cd. For Cd and Zn, increasing the pH from 5 to 8 resulted in an increase in Kddue to the reduced H⁺competition and increasing sorptionpotential. However, the Kdfor Cr in the sediments from both rivers showed no relationship with pH, presumably becauseof the complexity of the Cr species and environmental behavior.

Emissions in East Asia for 1993 by administrative units and source types are estimated to support regional emission assessments and transport modeling studies. Total emission of SOₓ, NOₓ, soil NOₓ, N₂O, and NH₃are 24 150, 12 610, 1963, 908, and 8263 kton yr⁻¹, respectively.China's emission contribution is the highest for every species.The area sources are the most significant source type for SOₓand NOₓ, but the fraction due to mobile source is highest for NOₓ. Major LPSs are located from the middle to the east part of China, south and middle-west part of South Korea, and the east part of Japan. The area sources of SOₓshow a pattern similar to population density, whereas NH₃shows a strong landuse dependency. Detail emissions analysis reveals higher SOₓemission `cores' within each province. The estimated emissions are used to estimate sulfur deposition in the regions. The seasonal average sulfur distribution amounts are estimated from the ATMOS2 chemical transport model. The results showed anti-correlation with temperature for sulfur (SO₂+ SO₄⁻²) concentrations and a positive correlation with rainfall for deposition.

The threshold friction velocities for dust rises in inland China are examined using WMO synoptic station data and the soil types in the source region to estimate dust emission amounts for a dust event occurred from 13 to 24 April 1998 in China. The dust-rise reports in the WMO synoptic data are used for the delineation of dust source regions that are found to be composed of the Gobi, Sand and Loess regions according to soil types in inland China. The estimated threshold friction velocities with the use of wind speeds observed in the Gobi, Sand and Loess regions are found to be about 60, 50, and 40 cm s⁻¹, respectively. The estimated dust-rise occurrencegrids by both the grid interpolated observed wind and the MM5 model wind well coincide with the areas of strong wind speeds. However, the dust-rise areas estimated by the model are larger than those estimated by the observed wind, whereas the friction velocities estimated by the model in the dust-rise areas are much smaller than those estimated by the observed wind, which result in less amount of dust emission by the model in all source regions. The 10-day accumulated total dust emission estimated by the observed wind during the dust storm event is found to be 4.64 × 10⁸ton in the whole source region of 3.29 × 10⁶km². Of which 85, 9 and 6% are, respectively, contributed by the Gobi, Sand and Loess regions,suggesting the dominant emission from the Gobi region for this event.The model estimated total dust emission is found to be about 56% of that estimated by the observed wind, indicating some improvement of the model being required.