Airborne pollutants along a roadside: assessment using snow analyses and moss bags

Vertical snow sampling and moss bag transplants were used to estimate the local inorganic and organic pollutant load deposited from traffic along a major highway in Finland. The pH and concentrations of Cl(-), NO(3)(-), SO(4)(2-), Ca(2+), Na(+) and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were determined from snow samples collected in winter at different sites along the highway. In summer, moss bags containing 20 g of fresh red-stemmed feather moss (Pleurozium schreberi) were transplanted at the same sites. The moss bag transplants remained exposed to roadside traffic for a period of one month following which the samples were collected and the PAH profiles and concentrations were analysed. The deposition of inorganic and organic pollutants from road traffic was observed up to 60 m from the road. The prevailing winds had a significant effect on the dispersion of pollutants. Snow appears to be a good collector of inorganic pollutants from the atmosphere and can be used to monitor local airborne pollution from road traffic. Snow packs can also be used as passive collectors of organic pollutant loads from road traffic on a local scale. To monitor organic PAH deposition from the road traffic, moss bags appeared to be better indicators compared to snow sampling. The efficiency of moss bags in accumulating PAH compounds indicate that vegetation may be an important sink for traffic pollution.     

The influence of particle surface characteristics on pollutant metal uptake by cells

The phosphatic mineral, hydroxyapatite, and two ion exchange resins have been used as artificial sediment particles. The surface properties of these materials have been studied using the Langmuir adsorption isotherm to calculate the binding capacity (B(max)) and the adsorption constant (K(L)) for zinc and cadmium ions. Mussels (Mytilus edulis) were fed on the particles and their digestive glands were subsequently removed and subjected to cell fractionation. The supernatant fraction was used to determine cytosol metal levels as a measure of the materials absorbed from the ingested particles. The level of cytosol zinc and cadmium was correlated with the K(L) values of the artificial sediments. It is suggested that phagocytosis of sediment particles plays an important part in transferring pollutants into benthic organisms and that the efficiency of this process is related to the adsorption coefficient of the particle surfaces.     

A simplified approach to modelling underground migration of radionuclides from contaminated river sediments

Accidental releases of waste water from the first Czechoslovak nuclear power plant, A1, caused contamination of sediments of the Dudváh river, flowing into the Vah river, in Slovakia. Rather high concentrations of ¹³⁷Cs and ⁹⁰Sr (2150Bq dm⁻³ and 215Bq dm⁻³, respectively) were found in bottom sediments of a former channel of the re-engineered river body at a distance of about 250 m from a village, Siladice, with water-supply wells. In order to assess the possibility of contamination of the wells, underground migration of both radionuclides from the contaminated area was simulated using an original layered convection-diffusion model. K_d values determined in laboratory experiments were used. The analysis of the hydrological situation in the area reveals that the critical condition is a dominant horizontal groundwater flow near the water table in the direction from the Váh bank to Siladice, in the periods when the contaminated body lies under the water table. The simulation calculated under conservative conditions showed that the contamination of water-supply wells would not exceed permissible concentration limits.     

The toxicity and toxic potential of fly ash from municipal incinerators assessed by means of a fish early life stage test

The toxicity and toxic potential of fly ash were assessed, using rainbow trout yolk sac fry. In contrast to fly ash itself, extracts of fly ash were extremely toxic, producing typical toxicopathological features of TCDD-intoxication. By comparison with earlier experiments using pure 2,3,7,8-TCDD, the toxic potential of fly ash was roughly estimated to be 75–125 ng.g^?1 toxic aequivalents TCDD. Obviously, this toxic potential is attributable for a minor part to 2,3,7,8-TCDD and for the greater part to the other chlorinated dioxin congeners and the dibenzofurans, present in fly ash.     

Oil residues in Baltic sediment,mussel and fish. II. Study of the Finnish Archipelago 1979–1981

Aliphatic hydrocarbons and non-polar aromatic compounds have been analyzed after a spill of grude oil at Baltic Sea 1979 from drifting weathered oil glumps, sediment and sediment trap samples and bivalves at five areas of the Finnish Archipelago Sea. $\text{Mytilus}$ and flounder muscles and flounder livers were analyzed 1980 and 1981 from three of the previous five areas. The glumps were shown to be weathered grude oil. Sediment trap samples on the visibly contaminated area contained higher amounts of oil residues and in different ratios than the bottom sediments at the same areas. Extra local aliphatic hydrocarbon pollution was detected from the sediment traps at the reference area. Bivalves contained high amount of oil residues at visibly polluted but in some visibly non-polluted areas also 1979. Any significant decontamination was not detected at summer 1979 but next year the $\text{Mytilus}$ samples contained only traces if any and 1981 no detectable levels of aromatic oil residues. Aliphatic hydrocarbon residues in flounders showed no regional differences and no significant change of levels between 1980 and 1981. In contrary, the aromatic oil residues decreased to the non-detectable level in flounder muscles and to a significantly lower level in flouder livers 1981 related to 1980. Linear correlations of the analysis results are discussed.     

Interaction of higher marine fungi with the herbicide atrazine. III. Adsorption of atrazine to the marine fungus Dendryphiellasalina

The adsorption of the herbicide ¹⁴C-atrazine to the marine fungus $\text{Dendryphiella}$$\text{salina}$ was studied using sodium azide as an inhibitor of active uptake. Adsorption of atrazine (94 ppb) was found to reach equilibrium within six hours. Adsorption as a function of concentration (9.4 to 468 ppb) conformed to the empirically derived Freundlich equation giving a K value of 6.2. Atrazine on the fungal cell surface was easily desorbed by successive artificial seawater washes indicating a relatively loose binding. The ability of the marine fungus $\text{D.}$$\text{salina}$ to remove ¹⁴C-atrazine from an artificial seawater medium suggests an environmental role in the transport and redistribution of atrazine in estuaries.     

Mercury induced alterations in the intestinal,absorption of nutrients in the fresh water murrel, Channapunctatus

The effect of five concentrations (10 mM, 1 mM, 0.1 mM, 0.01 mM and 0.001 mM) of mercury on the rate of absorption of glucose, fructose, glycine and tryptophan by the intestine of the fresh water murrel $\text{Channa}$$\text{punctatus}$ has been studied. Intestinal absorption of these nutrients was also examined in fish exposed to a sublethal concentration (3 μg/l) of mercury for 15 and 30 days. Significant decrease was recorded in the rate of intestinal absorption of all the four nutrients with higher concentrations (10 mM, 1 mM and 0.1 mM) of mercury. 0.01 mM and 0.001 mM of mercury also reduced the transport rate but it was insignificant, except in case of tryptophan, where 0.01 mM of mercury also produced significant decrease. Exposure of fish by bath to mercury also resulted in significant decrease in the intestinal transport rate of all the four nutrients after 30 days.