Multi-year monitoring of atmospheric dust fall as a sink for lead in an agro-industrial and petrochemical city of Argentina. Geo-accumulation and ecological risk assessment

SAFE, YASMIN L.; PALENZONA, MANUELA; LUCCHI, LEANDRO D.; DOMINI, CLAUDIA E.; PEREYRA, MARCELO T.

ENVIRONMENTAL GEOCHEMISTRY AND HEALTH

SPRINGER

Año: 2023

0269-4042

A multi-year monitoring data set of potentially harmful elements (PHEs), which are present in thechemical composition of atmospheric settleable particulate matter (SPM) in the urban, industrial and port areas in Bahía Blanca, was studied in orderto assess potential ecological risk. The selected PHEs were metal elements of local and regional environmental importance (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn). Seventeen sampling campaigns were carried out between April 2013 and September 2019. After the microwave-assisted acid digestion of samples, the total contents of the PHEs weredetermined by ICPOES. The annual dry deposition rate, the indexes associated with the potential ecological risk (RI) and the degree of geo-accumulation (Igeo) of each PHE were calculated. Theresults indicated that: (a) there are 3 groups (I, II, III) of PHEs with diferentiated concentration levels, ranked I (Pb > Zn > Cu) > II (Cr ≈ Ni) > III (Cd) (p < 0.01) in all the studied areas; (b) the median of the total deposition rate was 1 mg −2 cm −1. month with a signiicant relative contri-bution of Pb; (c) a considerable increase in geo-accumulation of Pb indicated that SPM was functioning as a sink for Pb, and also relected a significant progressive increase in the potential ecological risk in all sites (p< 0.01); and (d) there were chemometrically identified potential sources of Pb, Cu and Zn emissions that would be associated mainly to the resuspension of dust fromgeogenic, industrial and urban origin, and to a lesser extent, to other gaseous emissions of the industrial sector. This work highlights three major aspects of environmental assessment: (a) thevalue of continuous monitoring as an important tool to detect long-term trends; (b) the importance of the role of dust fall as a useful environmental indicator of lead geo-accumulation; and (c) thegreat utility of geo-accumulation and potential ecological risk indices as rapid quantitative assessment tools of environmental pollution.