ABSTRACT
The properties of individual particles, rather than bulk aerosol characteristics, determine
the environmental and health impact of the atmospheric pollutants. Single particles have
been sampled during 30 fog episodes at the mount Milesovka (837 m a.s.l.) located in
the industrially polluted area of north Bohemian brown coalfield. More than 2000 of
these solid, water insoluble particles, collected from May 2006 till July 2007, have been
analyzed by SEM-EDX and classified according to their shape, size and elemental
composition. Here we summarize results related to the presence of some heavy metals
and other trace elements and their correlation to wind speed and direction, t given
meteorological conditions. Particles, rich of Cu, Zn, Ba, Pb, Co, Ni, Fe, Ag, Au, Ce, Gd,
etc., have been detected. Most of the identified heavy metals present in particles smaller
than 5 m. It has been established that some elements exist separately or in specific
combinations that, along with the information for particles backward trajectory, could
be used for recognition of the atmospheric pollution sources.
Keywords: SEM-EDX, solid atmospheric pollutants, trace elements, heavy metals,
Czech Republic.
INTRODUCTION
The changes in chemical composition of the atmosphere have important contribution to
air quality and climate changes [1,2]. Solid aerosols play a central role in adverse health
and visibility. They are associated with a variety of anthropogenic activities (traffic,
industry, power plants, mining, combustion, etc.) and/or natural processes (volcanoes,
forest fires, sea spray, etc.) [3]. Ejection of giant amounts of anthropogenic heavy
metals in atmosphere is still an unsolved problem bothering the European community.
Knowledge about the nature of such pollutants is essential not only for their monitoring
but also for the modeling of atmospheric processes.
It is well known that the properties of the individual particles, rather than the bulk
aerosol characteristics, determine the optical, environmental and health effects of one
aerosol. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), coupled with Enegry Dispesive X-ray
Spectrometer (EDX), has proven to be an ideal tool for characterization of individual
particles [4-7], providing simultaneously precious information for their composition,
shape, structure and size that cannot be obtained by any bulk analytical approach.
In this paper we pay attention to the usage of the solid atmospheric pollutants as tracers
for specific emission sources, especially when they are of inhalatory size and have
specific morphology and composition.
269
Fog
sampling
date
East
1
28/05/07
South
2
23/10/06
3
28/11/06
West
4
30/08/06
5
06/09/06
6
21/10/06
7
24/10/06
8
12/12/06
9
09/01/07
10
17/01/07
11
15/05/07a.m.
12
16/05/07
13
25/06/07
14
02/07/07
15
05/07/07
16
29/07/07
North
17
04/04/07
18
29/04/07
19
15/05/07p.m.
20
03/06/07
Wind
Sampling
Wind
Studied
speed, direction,
time,
FP/spheres
m/s
degrees
hours
10.5
9577
7.25
10
6
19237
183.532.5
3
12
12
9
11
13
11
14.5
19
9
10
5
7.5
8.5
8
2966
304.512.5
238+12
23617
27125
2524
2506
292.54.5
2943
244.59.5
245.511.5
2878
273.542.5
4.75
5
5.5
1.5
16
8.5
25
4.5
7
8.5
29.25
4
7.25
6.5
8
12.5
9.5
354.516.5
349.57.5
330.519.5
35834
3.5
3
6.25
7.25
Fe-rich
FP
97 (17%) 15%(40%)
97 (17%)
15 (40%)
188 (30%) 24%(41%)
92(39%)
22(45%)
96(21%)
24(42%)
1192 (22%) 18%(31%)
79(43%)
11(54%)
77(29%)
18(28%)
79(39%)
34(38%)
89(43%)
23(35%)
99(14%)
9(44%)
97(5%)
10(10%)
107(14%)
20(25%)
91(12%)
9(33%)
102(15%)
11(36%)
84(20%)
9(11%)
75(7%)
11(9%)
96(11%)
16(12%)
117(37%)
35(43%)
289 (13%) 9%(19%)
53(26%)
13(38%)
73(5%)
9(0%)
83(16%)
8(12%)
80(7%)
6(17%)
Other
heavy
metal
FP
3%(30%)
3(30%)
16%(47%)
15(47%)
15(47%)
9%(24%)
6(0%)
5(0%)
17(71%)
9(55%)
10(20%)
20(0%)
7(14%)
7(0%)
9(22%)
3(33%)
5(20%)
6(50%)
2(100%)
9%(12%)
7(0%)
9(11%)
6(33%)
3(0%)
Alumosilicate
FP
Mean
size,
m
66%(14%)
64(14%)
58%(28%)
59(41%)
50(12%)
54%(25%)
76(37%)
57(28%)
49(29%)
85(32%)
53(11%)
38(0%)
72(12%)
36(14%)
83(11%)
68(21%)
36(8%)
46(9%)
94(27%)
53%(14%)
26(31%)
29(10%)
42(17%)
57(7%)
1.6
2.2
3.8
4.2
Cr
Mn
Ni
Cu
Zn
Ag
Ba
Pt
Au
Pb
Fe
Cr
Mn
Ni
Fe
Cr
Mn
Co
Ni
Zn
Zr
Fe
Cr
Ni
Zr
Sb
W
Pb
Mn
Cu
Ag
I
Ce
Fe
Co
Zn
Sn
Ba
Au
Figure 1. Normalized data for heavy metal FP according to the main wind sectors.
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272
273
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