Lichen used to assess nickel atmospheric dispersion, an example of New Caledonia Asbestos and best practices View project Atmospheric signature in marine sediments View project Camille Pasquet Lichen used to assess nickel atmospheric dispersion, an example of New Caledonia

International audience; Fifteen epiphytic lichens, collected near an active nickel mine and along an East-West transect across New Caledonia island (South-West Pacific), were analyzed for their metal contents. The purpose is to evaluate atmospheric metal contamination and the impact of mining exploitation on the surroundings. The structure of the compositional dataset was explored using a covariance biplot. The score of the first principal component was used as a generic indicator to locally evaluate the degree of contamination. This study demonstrates that Ni, Co and Cr are highly concentrated in lichens near mining exploitation.