The lichen transplant methodology in the source apportionment of metal deposition around a copper smelter in the former mining town of Karabash, Russia |
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Authors: | B J Williamson O W Purvis I N Mikhailova B Spiro V Udachin |
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Institution: | (1) Camborne School of Mines, School of Geography, Archaeology, and Earth Resources, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9EZ, UK;(2) The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK;(3) Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, 8 Marta Str., 202, 620144 Ekaterinburg, Russia;(4) Institute of Mineralogy, Russian Academy of Sciences, 456317 Miass, Russia |
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Abstract: | The lichen transplant monitoring methodology has been tested for source apportionment of metal deposition around the Cu smelter
and former mining town of Karabash. Transplants of the lichen Hypogymnia physodes (L.) Nyl., collected from a ‘control’ site in July 2001, were set up at 10 stations along a 60 km NE–SW transect centred on Karabash.
Samples were collected after 2 and 3 month monitoring periods and analysed using established wet-chemical techniques. The
sources of particulate investigated were the smelter blast furnace and converter, floatation tailings, metallurgical slags,
local road dusts, top soils and ambient airborne total suspended particulate. From multi-element least-squares modelling the
blast furnace was the main source of particulate in transplants close to the smelter (<10 km). Particulate from the converter,
with relatively high Pb and Zn, was found to be more widely dispersed, being finer-grained and so having a longer atmospheric
residence time. Ambient airborne particulate, sampled in Karabash town using air-pump apparatus, was almost entirely derived
from the converter, very different to the lichen transplants from the same area which mainly contained blast furnace particulate.
It is proposed that lichens close to the smelter mainly trapped larger blast furnace-derived particulate as they have a low
capture efficiency for smaller (converter) particles. The study demonstrates the utility of lichen transplants for monitoring
atmospheric deposition and highlights the caution required in their use to assess ambient air quality in human health studies. |
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Keywords: | Karabash Lichen transplants Monitoring Smelter Source apportionment |
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