Impact of a smelter closedown on metal contents of wheat cultivated in the neighbourhood

BACKGROUND: The contamination of soils by heavy metals engenders important environmental and sanitary problems in Northern France where a smelter has been located for more than one hundred of years. It has been one of the most important Pb production sites in Europe until its closedown in March 2003. Ore smelting process generated considerable atmospheric emissions of dust. Despite an active environmental strategy, these emissions were still significant in 2002 with up to 17 tonnes of Pb, 32 tonnes of Zn and 1 tonne of Cd. Over the years, the generated deposits have led to an important contamination of the surrounding soils. Previous studies have shown pollutant transfers to plants, which can induce a risk for human and animal health. The objective of this study was to evaluate the consequences of the smelter closedown on the Cd and Pb contents of wheat (grain and straw) cultivated in the area. METHODS: Paired topsoil and vegetable samples were taken at harvest time at various distances to the smelter. The sample sites were chosen in order to represent a large range of soil metal contamination. Sampling was realised on several wheat harvests between 1997 and 2003. 25 samples were collected before the smelter closedown and 15 after. All ears of about 1 m long of two rows were manually picked and threshed in the lab. Similarly, straw was harvested at the same time. Total metal contents in soil and wheat samples were quantified. RESULTS: A negative correlation between metal concentrations in soil and the distance to the smelter was shown. The wheat grain and straw showed significant Cd and Pb contents. The straw had higher metal contents than the grain. During the smelter activity, the grain contents were up to 0.8 mg kg(-1) DM of Cd and 8 mg kg(-1) DM of Pb. For the straw, maximum contents were 5 mg kg(-1) DM of Cd and 114 mg kg(-1) DM of Pb. After the smelter closedown, we observed a very large decrease of Pb in the grain (82%) and in the straw (91%). A smaller decrease was observed for Cd in grain. Despite this improvement, 80% of the studied samples remained non-acceptable for human consumption, according to the European legislation values, due to a high Cd content. DISCUSSION: Results highlighted a difference in metal accumulation in the plant organs as well as a difference in metal uptake. The approach pointed out the importance of atmospheric fallout in the wheat contamination pathways for Pb. The smelter closedown has lead to a decrease of the Pb content in wheat. It is interesting to relate this finding with the lead blood levels in children living close to the smelter. CONCLUSIONS: Those results have confirmed the importance of dust fallout in the plant contamination pathways. Before the closedown, Pb measured in the plant was principally originating from the smelter dust emissions. It raised the question of the sanitary risks for humans and animals living in the surrounding a of the smelter. RECOMMENDATIONS AND PERSPECTIVES: In the literature, very few articles take the dust deposit as contamination pathways for crops into consideration. However, in highly contaminated sites, this pathway can be very important. Thus, it would be worthy studying the uptake of metal contaminants by plants through the foliar system.     

Local to regional emission sources affecting mercury fluxes to New York lakes

Lake-sediment records across the Northern Hemisphere show increases in atmospheric deposition of anthropogenic mercury (Hg) over the last 150 years. Most of the previous studies have examined remote lakes affected by the global atmospheric Hg reservoir. In this study, we present Hg flux records from lakes in an urban/suburban setting of central New York affected also by local and regional emissions. Sediment cores were collected from the Otisco and Skaneateles lakes from the Finger Lakes region, Cross Lake, a hypereutrophic lake on the Seneca River, and Glacial Lake, a small seepage lake with a watershed that corresponds with the lake area. Sediment accumulation rates and dates were established by ²¹⁰Pb. The pre-anthropogenic regional atmospheric Hg flux was estimated to be 3.0 μg m⁻² yr⁻¹ from Glacial Lake, which receives exclusively direct atmospheric deposition. Mercury fluxes peaked during 1971–2001, and were 3 to more than 30 times greater than pre-industrial deposition. Land use change and urbanization in the Otisco and Cross watersheds during the last century likely enhanced sediment loads and Hg fluxes to the lakes. Skaneateles and Glacial lakes have low sediment accumulation rates, and thus are excellent indicators for atmospheric Hg deposition. In these lakes, we found strong correlations with emission records for the Great Lakes region that markedly increased in the early 1900s, and peaked during WWII and in the early 1970s. Declines in modern Hg fluxes are generally evident in the core records. However, the decrease in sediment Hg flux at Glacial Lake was interrupted and has increased since the early 1990s probably due to the operation of new local emission sources. Assuming the global Hg reservoir tripled since the pre-industrial period, the contribution of local and regional emission sources to central New York lakes was estimated to about 80% of the total atmospheric Hg deposition.     

Long-term nitrate increases in two oligotrophic lakes, due to the leaching of atmospherically-deposited N from moorland ranker soils

During the last 50 years nitrate concentrations in Buttermere and Wastwater (Cumbria, UK) have risen significantly, by 70 and 100%, respectively. By estimating contemporary nitrate fluxes in the lakes' catchments and in sub-catchments and comparing them with the fractional areas of different soil types, it is deduced that the surface water nitrate is derived almost entirely from organic-rich ranker soils that have a limited ability to retain atmospherically-deposited nitrogen. Little or no nitrate leaches from the other major soil type, a brown podzol, despite it having a lower C:N ratio (12.0 g g(-1)) than the ranker (17.0 g g(-1)), nor is there much contribution from the small areas of improved (chemically fertilised) grassland within the catchments. Although some nitrate leaching is occurring, total N losses are appreciably smaller than atmospheric inputs, so the catchment soils are currently accumulating between 3 and 4 g N m(-2) a(-1).     

The utility of Pinus sylvestris L. in dendrochemical investigations: pollution impact of lead mining and smelting in Darley Dale, Derbyshire, UK

This research investigates atmospheric pollution from an isolated and increasingly productive lead-smelting site by examining the dendrochemistry of Pinus sylvestris growing in the local environment and at control sites. Tree increment cores and soil in the rooting environment were analysed for lead content. Inter-site comparisons of lead-in-soil suggest that contamination of the soil may be a less important pathway for lead inclusion within wood than pathways via bark or needles. Levels of lead-in-wood (up to 38mgkg(-1)) are at the upper end of those previously reported. There is evidence of radial translocation of lead towards the heartwood and variability in intra-site dendrochemical records. Mean site lead-in-wood records can however be related to a well-documented pollution chronology and also suggest the importance of local topography in the dispersal and deposition of particulate lead. This study demonstrates that P. sylvestris can be used to estimate the scale and timing of past pollution episodes in similar environmental contexts to those investigated at Darley Dale, where precisely dated pollution chronologies are lacking.     

Atmospheric transport of urban-derived NH(x): Evidence from nitrogen concentration and delta(15)N in epilithic mosses at Guiyang, SW China

Nitrogen concentration and δ¹⁵N in 175 epilithic moss samples were investigated along four directions from urban to rural sites in Guiyang, SW China. The spatial variations of moss N concentration and δ¹⁵N revealed that atmospheric N deposition is dominated by NH_x-N from two major sources (urban sewage NH₃ and agricultural NH₃), the deposition of urban-derived NH_x followed a point source pattern characterized by an exponential decline with distance from the urban center, while the agricultural-derived NH_x was shown to be a non-point source. The relationship between moss N concentration and distance (y = 1.5e^−0.13x + 1.26) indicated that the maximum transporting distance of urban-derived NH_x averaged 41 km from the urban center, and it could be determined from the relationship between moss δ¹⁵N and distance [y = 2.54 ln(x) − 12.227] that urban-derived NH_x was proportionally lower than agricultural-derived NH_x in N deposition at sites beyond 17.2 km from the urban center. Consequently, the variation of urban-derived NH_x with distance from the urban center could be modeled as y = 56.272e^−0.116x − 0.481 in the Guiyang area.     

Development of a nonlocal convective mixing scheme with varying upward mixing rates for use in air quality and chemical transport models

BACKGROUND, AIM, AND SCOPE: Asymmetrical convective non-local scheme (CON) with varying upward mixing rates is developed for simulation of vertical turbulent mixing in the convective boundary layer in air quality and chemical transport models. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The upward mixing rate form the surface layer is parameterized using the sensible heat flux and the friction and convective velocities. Upward mixing rates varying with height are scaled with an amount of turbulent kinetic energy in layer, while the downward mixing rates are derived from mass conservation. RESULTS: This scheme provides a less rapid mass transport out of surface layer into other layers than other asymmetrical convective mixing schemes. DISCUSSION: In this paper, we studied the performance of a nonlocal convective mixing scheme with varying upward mixing in the atmospheric boundary layer and its impact on the concentration of pollutants calculated with chemical and air-quality models. This scheme was additionally compared versus a local eddy-diffusivity scheme (KSC). Simulated concentrations of NO(2) and the nitrate wet deposition by the CON scheme are closer to the observations when compared to those obtained from using the KSC scheme. CONCLUSIONS: Concentrations calculated with the CON scheme are in general higher and closer to the observations than those obtained by the KSC scheme (of the order of 15-20%). Nitrate wet deposition calculated with the CON scheme are in general higher and closer to the observations than those obtained by the KSC scheme. RECOMMENDATIONS AND PERSPECTIVES: To examine the performance of the scheme, simulated and measured concentrations of a pollutant (NO(2)) and nitrate wet deposition was compared for the year 2002. The comparison was made for the whole domain used in simulations performed by the chemical European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme Unified model (version UNI-ACID, rv2.0) where schemes were incorporated.     

大气中痕量持久性有机污染物年均值的测定

采用以XAD-2树脂为吸附介质的大气被动采样器,在四川卧龙自然保护区设置6个采样点,进行了为期2年（2005年-2007年）的环境大气样品采集。用气相色谱-高分辨质谱方法对HCB,HCHs,DDTs和PCBs测定。结果表明,平行样品的重现性良好,平均相对偏差为9％。POPs检测下限的范围为1．0pg／m^3-5．9pg／m^3。2年的年均值数据表现出较好的一致性和规律性。以XAD-2树脂为吸附介质的大气被动采样器能够便利地采集进而测定半年或一年污染物的平均浓度,可以经济、有效地获得大气中痕量POPs的年均值。ρ（α—HCH）／ρ（γ-HCH）从成都到卧龙的上升的趋势反映的是传输过程中HCH的降解;而卧龙地区跨年度数据所反映出的ρ（α—HCH）／ρ（γ-HCH）下降趋势,可以归因于林丹的使用。     

珠江三角洲地区大气环境条件的层结特征分析

利用150m内的低探资料,研究了珠江三角洲地区大气环境条件的层结特点,结果表明逆温出现频率较高,逆温层数偏多,逆温层高度低、厚度薄、强度较弱。分析得出该地区的大气环境条件具偏稳定的特征。      

A review of atmospheric benzene homologues in China: Characterization, health risk assessment, source identification and countermeasures

Benzene homologues are important chemical precursors to the formation of ground-level ozone and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) in the atmosphere, in addition, some toxic species are harmful to human health. Strict countermeasures have been taken to fight air pollution since 2013, and total amount control of volatile organic compounds is being promoted in China at present. Therefore, it is important to understand the pollution situation and the control status of ambient benzene homologues in China. This paper reviews research progress from published papers on pollution characteristics, atmospheric photochemical reactivity, health risk assessment and source identification of ambient benzene homologues in recent years in China, and also summarizes policies and countermeasures for the control of ambient benzene homologues and the relevant achievements. The total ambient levels of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes (BTEX) shows a declining tendency from 2001 to 2016 in China. The mass concentrations of BTEX are generally higher in southern regions than in northern regions, and they present vertical decreasing variation characteristics with increasing altitude within the height range of about 5500 m. Toluene has the highest ozone formation potential and SOA formation potential both in urban areas and background areas, while benzene poses an obvious carcinogenic risk to the exposed adult populations in urban areas. Source identification of ambient benzene homologues suggested that local governments should adopt differentiated control strategies for ambient benzene homologues. Several recommendations are put forward for future research and policy-making on the control of ambient benzene homologues in China.     

青岛大气颗粒物的扫描电镜研究和污染源识别

应用扫描电镜－X射线能谱对青岛市大气颗粒物定性分析。单个颗粒物分析和多个颗粒物复合分析的结果,为污染源识别和相对重要性的估计提供了重要信息:青岛市大气颗粒物的来源,主要有土壤扬尘和燃煤飞灰、硫酸钙和其他硫酸盐类的二次颗粒物、有机物质颗粒物、天然海盐、工业钡盐与其他类型的工业排放。