Search results for "HEAVY METAL"
showing 10 items of 266 documents
The Moss Biomonitoring Method and Neutron Activation Analysis in Assessing Pollution by Trace Elements in Selected Polish National Parks
2020
The concentrations of trace elements in feather moss Pleurozium schreberi (Brid.) Mitt. were used to indicate the relative levels of air pollution by trace elements in Polish national parks. Pleurozium schreberi was collected from nine national parks. The highest concentrations were recorded in the moss samples from the southern and most industrialised part of the country; the lowest from northern and north-eastern Poland. A comparison of data obtained from Polish national parks in the 1970s and 1990s showed a significant decrease in the concentrations of heavy metals. In the linear covariability estimation, the t quantile approach was used for multi-element comparison. A number of positive…
Inorganic geochemistry of roadway dust from the metropolitan area of Palermo, Italy
2003
Inorganic matter from roadway dust collected in the urban area of Palermo, Italy, was analysed to identify the chemical elements introduced into the environment as a result of human activities. Metals of environmental concern exhibit very high enrichment factors, which in some cases exceed 100. Metal size distribution indicates that Pd, Pt, Au, Sb, Zn, S, Ni, V, Mo and Cr substantially accumulate in the finest particles, whereas Pb, Br, As, Cu, Ag and Ba are almost independent of the size fraction. SEM/EDS analyses revealed that some individual particles contain clusters of foreign particles (<10 μm) made up of Fe-Ni, Cr-Ni or Fe alone, typical of the abrasion of stainless steel. Others are…
Geochemical records of limestone façades exposed to urban atmospheric contamination as monitoring tools?
2008
International audience; Magnetic susceptibility, surface rock soiling, elemental composition and lead isotope ratios were measured in surface stone samples collected at different heights of a late 19th century building in Dijon, France. We targeted four limestone facades that differ in orientation and proximity to car traffic. It seems that zinc, copper, sulphur and cadmium are present as diffuse pollutants in urban atmosphere, at least at the scale of the building studied. In contrast, lead and arsenic exhibit point sources: automotive traffic and past coal-burning fly-ash emissions; both coherent with lead isotopic composition measurements. Parameter variations primarily result from expos…
Air Quality during New Year’s Eve: A Biomonitoring Study with Moss
2021
Mosses are one of the best bioindicators in the assessment of atmospheric aerosol pollution by heavy metals. Studies using mosses allow both short- and long-term air quality monitoring. The increasing contamination of the environment (including air) is causing a search for new, cheap and effective methods of monitoring its condition. Once such method is the use of mosses in active biomonitoring. The aim of the study was to assess the atmospheric aerosol pollution with selected heavy metals (Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Hg and Pb) from the smoke of fireworks used during New Year’s Eve in the years 2019/2020 and 2020/2021. In studies a biomonitoring moss-bag method with moss Pleurozium schreberi (Willd. e…
The influence of preparation methodology on the concentrations of heavy metals in Pleurozium schreberi moss samples prior to use in active biomonitor…
2020
AbstractActive biomonitoring is used to assess environmental pollution of elements such as heavy metals by indicator species such as mosses. They are used, among others, in urbanized areas where no indicator species are found. In such study areas, mosses collected from sites considered to be ecologically clean shall be exposed. In this context, it is very important to prepare the mosses properly before the exposure, so that the information received about the condition of the environment is reliable. In 2018, studies were conducted in the forested areas of southern Poland—in Opolskie Province. Pleurozium schreberi mosses were used in these studies. Atomic absorption spectrometry with flame a…
The environmental impact of air pollution on the built heritage of historic Cairo (Egypt)
2020
In the last decades, many researchers investigated the relation between environmental pollution and the degradation phenomena on the built heritage, because of their rapid increase and growing harmfulness. Consequently, the identification of the main pollution sources has become essential to define mitigation actions against degradation and alteration phenomena of the stone materials. In this way, the present paper is focused on the study of the effect of air pollution on archaeological buildings in Historic Cairo. A multi-methodological approach was used to obtain information about the chemical composition of examined black crusts and to clarify their correlation with the air pollution, sp…
Application of algae in active biomonitoring of the selected holding reservoirs in swietokrzyskie province
2016
Abstract During the years 2014-2015, biomonitoring studies were carried out at three holding reservoirs located in Swietokrzyskie Province (central Poland): Kielce artificial lake, Chancza reservoir and Sielpia reservoir. In sea water algae Palmaria palmata (Linnaeus) Weber & Mohr, exposed in the analysed waters, the increases of concentrations were determined by the atomic absorption spectrometry method (AAS), of the following: Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb. Conductivity and pH were also determined in the reservoirs waters. The differences between the increases of heavy metal concentrations in the samples of algae found along the coastline were indicated; they result from different distanc…
Algae utilization in assessment of the large Turawa Lake (Poland) pollution with heavy metals.
2011
This investigation was undertaken to determine the applicability of algae for the assessment of contamination level of water reservoirs with heavy metals. The alga Spirogyra sp. collected in the littoral zone of the Large Turawa Lake (artificial lake in Southern Poland) was used for the study. The concentrations of heavy metals accumulated in the alga inhabiting a flow-through water basin of the Large Turawa Lake were found to correlate with sources of these metals, such as benthic sediments and contaminated watercourses. The highest concentrations of metals were found in alga samples collected at the outlet of the lake: c (Mn) = 12330 mg/kg dry mass, c (Fe) = 15059 mg/kg d.m., c (Cu) = 47.…
Pollution of Flooded Arable Soils with Heavy Metals and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)
2014
Soils that are exposed to floodwaters because of shallow groundwater and periodical wetlands are, to a large extent, exposed to contamination by organic and inorganic compounds. These are mainly compounds that have drifted along with the inflow of heavily laden floodwater and are produced within the soil profile by the anaerobic transformation of organic matter. Heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds are absorbed by the soil of the floodwaters, and moving in the soil profile, they pose a threat to groundwater. What is more, after a flood, they may be absorbed by the crops. This paper focuses on the effects of Odra River (Poland) floods, heavy metals, and PAHs on so…
Relation between reflectance of rice crop and indices of pollution by heavy metals in soils of albufera natural park (Valencia, Spain)
1993
13 páginas, 3 figuras, 4 tablas, 1 foto.