Evaluation of Seasonal Pollution of Heavy Metals in the Atmospheric Dust of Yazd City using Pollution Indicators

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Associate Professor, Faculty of Agricalture and Natural Resources, Ardakan University, Ardakan, Iran

10.22111/gdij.2024.48070.3623

Abstract

Dust deposition is widespread in arid and semi-arid regions of the world. This study was conducted to investigate the heavy element contamination of atmospheric dust in the city of Yazd. Dust was sampled seasonally from autumn 2017 to summer 2018, from 30 points using sediment traps. The concentration of ten heavy elements, including iron, manganese, nickel, chromium, cobalt, arsenic, lead, cadmium, zinc and copper, and the evaluation indicators of heavy metal pollution, including Pollution Load Indicator (PLI), Pollution Degree (Cd), Pollution Index (PI) and Enrichment Factor (EF), were calculated to evaluate the level and amount of dust pollution in the region. With the exception of cobalt with an enrichment factor of less than 1 (0.88), which indicates the natural origin of this element in natural resources, other heavy metals, including iron, manganese, nickel and chromium with enrichment factors between 1 and 10 from mixed natural and anthropogenic sources, and arsenic with an enrichment factor of more than 10, were found to be of unnatural and anthropogenic origin, and the contribution of each of these sources was different depending on the time and place of dust sampling. Based on the pollution assessment indicators, the heavy metal pollution in the region is moderate and the pollution indicators of arsenic, cadmium, zinc and lead elements were higher than other elements.

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Main Subjects


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