Search results for "aerosol physics"

Environmental impact of early Basque mining and smelting recorded in a high ash minerogenic peat deposit.

2004

International audience; More than four metres of core, covering almost 5000 years of deposition, were collected in a high ash minerogenic peat deposit located in the High Aldudes valley (Basque country), an area well known for its mineral abundance, exploited from Roman Times at least.Although minerogenic peatlands are not generally considered as the best archives to reconstruct past atmospheric metal deposition history, lead isotopic geochemistry demonstrates the integrity of the Pb record at least within the three upper meters; that is to say over the last four millennia.Zn, Cd and Cumay have been widely redistributed either by biological cycling, advective groundwater movements, or diffu…

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…

A new approach for modeling dry deposition velocity of particles

2018

Abstract The dry deposition process is recognized as an important pathway among the various removal processes of pollutants in the atmosphere. In this field, there are several models reported in the literature useful to predict the dry deposition velocity of particles of different diameters but many of them are not capable of representing dry deposition phenomena for several categories of pollutants and deposition surfaces. Moreover, their applications is valid for specific conditions and if the data in that application meet all of the assumptions required of the data used to define the model. In this paper a new dry deposition velocity model based on an electrical analogy schema is propose…

2013

Abstract. Major population centers (MPCs), or megacities, represent the largest of growing urban agglomerations with major societal and environmental implications. In terms of air quality, they are seen as localized but strong emission sources of aerosols and trace gases which in turn affect air pollution levels in the city or in downwind regions. In the state-of-the-art atmospheric chemistry general circulation model EMAC, generic aerosol and gas-phase tracers with equal emission source strengths at 46 MPC locations are used to study the balance between local pollution build-up and pollution export, either vertically into the upper troposphere or horizontally in the lower troposphere. The …

THE MATHEMATICAL MODELING OF METALS CONTENT IN PEAT

2015

Metals deposition in peat can aid to evaluate impact of atmospheric or wastewaters pollution and thus can be a good indicator of recent and historical changes in the pollution loading. For peat using in agriculture, industrial, heat production etc. knowledge of peat metals content is important. Experimental determination of metals in peat is very long and expensive work. Using experimental data the mathematical model for calculation of concentrations of metals in different points for different layers is developed. The values of the metals (Ca, Mg, Fe, Sr, Cu, Zn, Mn, Pb, Cr, Ni, Se, Co, Cd, V, Mo) concentrations in different layers in peat taken from Knavu peat bog from four sites are deter…

Impact of 70 years urban growth associated with heavy metal pollution

2014

Historical trends in trace element deposition were analyzed using herbaria specimens. We determined Al, Fe, Mg, Mn, Ca, Na, P, K, S, As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn contents in leaves of eight specimens collected in 1941. To assess changes, we collected the same plants from a botanical garden in 2012. The concentrations of major elements showed large species variability. However, temporal trends were predominately detected for heavy metals. The Cd, Ni and Cr contents in the 2012 leaves were 10, 13 and 16 times higher, respectively, than in 1941. Urban activities have substantially raised the levels of these metals in urban atmospheres due to changes in human activities over 70 years of urban …

Recent evolution of the multi-isotopic radioactive content in ice of Livingston Island, Antarctica.

1999

The temporal arrangement of the ice layers that are produced in ecosystems with perpetual snows form situations that greatly favour the study of the temporal evolution of the radioactive fallout that occurs in the said zones, whether this fallout is natural or artificial in origin. This allows one to investigate the causes of the fallout and the mechanisms transporting the radionuclides involved from their source point to the study zone, as well as their subsequent behaviour in that zone. There are special difficulties involved in this type of study in Antarctica. Some are of a general character deriving from the conditions of extreme climate and isolation which complicate the processes of …

Mosses as biomonitors of atmospheric heavy metal deposition : Spatial patterns and temporal trends in Europe

2010

In recent decades, mosses have been used successfully as biomonitors of atmospheric deposition of heavy metals. Since 1990, the European moss survey has been repeated at five-yearly intervals. Although spatial patterns were metal-specific, in 2005 the lowest concentrations of metals in mosses were generally found in Scandinavia, the Baltic States and northern parts of the UK ; the highest concentrations were generally found in Belgium and south-eastern Europe. The recent decline in emission and subsequent deposition of heavy metals across Europe has resulted in a decrease in the heavy metal concentration in mosses for the majority of metals. Since 1990, the concentration in mosses has decli…

Discrimination between effects induced by microbial activity and water-rock interactions under hydrothermal conditions according to REE behaviour

2013

AbstractRare earth elements (REE) were investigated in siliceous stromatolites forming in the Specchio di Venere Lake on Pantelleria Island. Chondrite-normalised patterns show significant La enrichments and Eu depletions suggesting that fluids involved in stromatolite growth experienced strong rock-water interactions under hydrothermal conditions. At the same time, enrichments in heavy REE (HREE) with respect to intermediate REE (MREE) suggest that hydrothermal fluids interacted with microbial mats during deposition of the stromatolites. The above-mentioned features suggest that rock-water interactions and bacterial activity were simultaneously recorded in the REE patterns of stromatolites,…

Mechanisms for Translocation of Heavy Metals from Soil to Epigeal Mosses

2011

The mechanisms for translocation of heavy metals from soil to epigeal mosses were investigated. The first mechanism was demonstrated for (137)Cs and involved the uplifting of the pollutant-containing dust from the soil, followed by the local secondary deposition on surfaces of epigeal mosses and epiphytic lichens. The second mechanism involved the diffusion of metal cations from the soil through water wetting the moss into the gametophyte. The mechanism was demonstrated by measuring the electric conductance of wetted gametophytes with single ends immersed in solutions of Cu and Na salts. In addition, the concentrations of Cu and Cd were compared in moss samples exposed to the natural soil a…