Correlating concentrations of heavy metals in atmospheric deposition with respective accumulation in moss and natural surface soil for ecological land classes in Norway between 1990 and 2010

Abstract

This study investigated whether statistical correlation of modeled atmospheric heavy metal deposition and respective accumulation in moss and natural surface soil varies across natural landscapes in Norway. Target metals were cadmium, lead, and mercury, and analyses were run between 1990 and 2010 on a 5-year interval. The landscape information was derived from the Ecological Land Classification of Europe. Correlations between concentration and respective deposition data were computed for each land class. The strongest correlations between heavy metal concentrations in atmospheric deposition and corresponding levels in moss and natural surface soil were observed for lead. Correlations for mercury were weaker compared to those calculated for cadmium and lead, indicating that atmospheric transport of mercury occurs at a larger spatial scale, while accumulation additionally seems to be influenced by factors operating on smaller scales. The correlation between concentrations in atmospheric deposition and moss is landscape-specific and metal-specific. The same holds true for the relations between heavy metal concentration in modeled atmospheric deposition and natural surface soil. The results of this investigation are in line with similar calculations from across Europe. They further confirm previous studies indicating that for Norway atmospheric transport is a main source of lead and cadmium accumulation in moss as well as in natural surface soil.

Atmospheric Transport of Metals to Norway 1975-2015

“…It has been claimed by some (Reimann et al, 2009) that the steep gradient evident in surface soil composition along a south-north gradient in southern Norway is due to natural conditions related to climate and vegetation. This view is not supported by results from a recent statistical study in Norway including the geographical distribution of ecological land classes (Nickel et al, 2014) where it is concluded that atmospheric transport is a main source of Pb and Cd accumulation in moss as well as in natural surface soil.…”

Research on Evolution Characteristics and Factors of Nordic Green Patent Citation Network

“…As can be seen from Table 4, in the first and second stages, the hubs and authorities of the Nordic green patent citation networks are mainly aimed at the prevention and control of mercury pollution, such as removing mercury vapor from exhaust gas (4273747A), extracting and recovering mercury from gas (4233274A), controlling mercury emissions (6855859B2), etc. This is mainly due to the accumulation of highly concentrated mercurybased air pollutants in Nordic countries located at high latitudes, and their diets are inseparable from fish and aquatic products, which is considered to be the main way of human methylmercury exposure [53]. Therefore, the Nordic countries have attached great importance to the prevention and control of mercury pollution as early as the end of the twentieth century, and the related technologies have also flourished.…”

Bryophyta as Теst-Оbjects of Bryogeochemical Indication of Atmospheric Fallouts of Heavy Metals and Radionuclides in the Environment of Europe. Аnalytical Review

“…Зокрема, у країнах Європи для Сd та Hg було продемонстровано тісну кореляцію між згаданими параметрами [91]. Подібний висновок також було зроблено для Mn [21] та Pb [74]. Крім того, за результатами масових аналізів (десятків тисяч) вмісту Cd, Hg та Pb у мохах, повітрі, ґрунті та інших компонентах біогеоценозів у Європі було визначено фактори, які суттєво впливають на концентрацію згаданих важких металів у мохах, у т.ч.…”