Atmospheric deposition of heavy metals in Romania studied by the moss biomonitoring technique employing nuclear and related analytical techniques and GIS technology

Abstract

This is the first systematic study of air pollution from heavy metals and other trace elements throughout several industrialized areas and national parks of Eastern Romanian Carpathians using the moss biomonitoring technique. Samples of Hylocomium splendens collected at 120 sites were analyzed by epithermal neutron activation analysis at the pulsed fast reactor IBR-2 at JINR, Dubna, for a wide range of elements including heavy metals and rare earths (Na, Mg, AI, C1,K, Ca, Sc, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni (by (n,p) reaction), Cu, Zn, As, Se, Br, Rb, Sr, Zr, Mo, Ag, Sn, Sb, I, Cs, Ba, La, Ce, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd. Tb, Yb, Hf, Ta, W, Au, Th, and U). Copper, lead and cadmium were determined by AAS. Certified Reference Standards of mosses produced for interlaboratory comparisons in the European moss-survey 1995 were used to ensure the quality of the measurements. To present results in the form of coloured contour maps the geographical information system GIS-INTEGRO was used. The regional extent of pollution with specific metals was determined. Results reported are well consistent with those obtained in numerous recent projects carried out in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Bulgaria and other countries.

Atmospheric deposition of metals in romania studied by biomonitoring using the epiphytic mosshypnum cupressiforme

“…The values for the Moldavian area are clearly lower than corresponding levels in Transylvania and other areas in Romania [15,16] but comparable with those found in some other European countries [14,20,24]. It should be emphasized that, so far, the feasibility of epiphytic mosses with respect to monitoring of airborne heavy metals is not clearly known, and so any comparison with the results obtained using epigeic mosses should be made with caution.…”

“…When evaluating the suitability of the moss-biomonitoring technique for estimating atmospheric heavy-metal deposition, in eastern Romania localization of the sampling sites was difficult. In Romania, the common epigeic mosses used in biomonitoring studies occur in mountainous areas [15] but are rare in lowland places in eastern Romania and in the climatically dry regions in south-eastern Romania. Under such conditions, epiphytic moss species were considered as an alternative.…”

“…Romania provided the first data on several moss-monitored metals between 1990 and 1992 [14]. In 1995, the moss technique was carried out to monitor atmospheric heavy-metal deposition in the eastern Romanian Carpathians and Transylvania [15,16]. This was the first time moss species had been used to monitor heavy-metal deposition in eastern Romania (province of Moldavia).…”

Біріккен Ұлттар Ұйымының Бағдарламасы Туралы «Еуропадағы Ауыр Металдардың Атмосфералық Шөгінділері - Биомонитор Мүктерін Талдауға Негізделген Бағалаулар»

“…Начиная с 1995 года Сектор нейтронного активационного анализа и прикладных исследований (СНААПИ) ЛНФ ОИЯИ принимает участие в Европейской программе «Атмосферные выпадения тяжелых металлов в Европе -оценки на основе анализа мхов» («Atmospheric Heavy Metal Deposition in Europe -Estimations Based on Moss Analysis»). Первым вкладом в Отчет 1995/1996 [13] года были результаты по Восточным Карпатам Румынии [14]. В 1999 году проект Сектора НАА и прикладных исследований «Исследование атмосферных выпадений тяжелых металлов в некоторых промышленных регионах России, Польши, Румынии, Чешской Республики, Болгарии и Словакии с использованием метода мхов-биомониторов и ядерно-физических методов анализа и ГИС-технологий» был включен в проблемно-тематический план Объединенного института.…”

Soil, bark and leaf trace metal loads related to the war legacy (The Prašnik rainforest, Croatia)

“…The expansion of industrial, mining and war activities, rapid growth of population as well as other reasons, have caused extensive trace metal contamination of the environment because they are continuously being added to soil, waterways and surrounding atmosphere (Aksoy et al 2000;Ernst 1990Ernst , 1995Stanišić et al 2012, Lucaciu et al, 1999. Military activities such as shelling and use of landmines raise major concerns regarding the possible major and trace metal enrichment in soils (Chappell et al, 2011).…”