Geogenic and Anthropogenic Moss Responsiveness to Element Distribution Around a Pb–Zn Mine, Toranica, Republic of Macedonia

Angelovska, Svetlana; Stafilov, Trajče; Šajn, Robert; Balabanova, Biljana

doi:10.1007/s00244-015-0251-7

Cited by 21 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…The spatial distribution of Factor 2 (Cd-Pb-Sb-Zn) was not influenced by lithological background and is mainly connected with a lead-zinc smelter (Figure 7). Factor 2 was directly related to the dust from the flotation tailings at the mines and from the soils that are spread into the atmosphere by the winds, leading to the atmospheric distribution of these elements [3,39,[41][42][43]. Air pollution decreased over the years, even though the drop in the content of elements in Factor 2 was not as clear as in Factor 1 ( Figure 5).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In former Yugoslavia, Macedonia was an important producer of metals, such as copper, steel, ferroalloys, lead, zinc, cadmium, nickel, silver, and gold. Long-term mining and mining-related activities have led to the pollution of the environment, as reported in several studies [2,3,22,.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Elements and compounds that are released into the environment and damage the biosphere (soil, water, air) are treated as pollutants-regardless of whether they come from natural processes on the Earth's surface or human activities [1][2][3]. Atmospheric emissions, due to their widespread dispersion and exposure to living organisms, pose a major risk to human health [4,5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The first results of the air pollution biomonitoring research with heavy metals have increased the interest in applying biomonitoring with mosses that are focused on individual critical regions in Macedonia [37]. Investigations were conducted in the area of the Bučim copper mine in the vicinity of the town of Radoviš [27,40], in the area of ferronickel smelter plant near the town of Kavadarci (Ni and Cr) [30,47]; in the eastern parts of the country near Pb-Zn mines and flotation plants "Toranica" [3,41], "Zletovo" [39,42], and "Sasa" [42,43]. The study was also conducted in the vicinity of the abandoned As-Sb-Tl mine "Allchar" on the Kožuf Mountain [35], as well as in the surroundings of the thermoelectric coal-fired power plants in Bitola and Kičevo [48][49][50].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Atmospheric Heavy Metal Deposition in North Macedonia from 2002 to 2010 Studied by Moss Biomonitoring Technique

et al. 2020

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Moss biomonitoring technique was used for a heavy-metal pollution study in Macedonia in the framework of the International Cooperative Program on Effects of Air Pollution on Natural Vegetation and Crops (UNECE IPC Vegetation). Moss samples (n = 72) were collected during the summers of 2002, 2005, and 2010. The contents of 41 elements were determined by neutron activation analysis, atomic absorption spectrometry, and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. Using factor and cluster analyses, three geogenic factors were determined (Factor 1, including Al, As, Co, Cs, Fe, Hf, Na, Rb, Sc, Ta, Th, Ti, U, V, Zr, and rare-earth elements–RE; Factor 4 with Ba, K, and Sr; and Factor 5 with Br and I), one anthropogenic factor (Factor 2, including Cd, Pb, Sb, and Zn), and one geogenic-anthropogenic factor (Factor 3, including Cr and Ni). The highest anthropogenic impact of heavy metal to the air pollution in the country was from the ferronickel smelter near Kavadraci (Ni and Cr), the lead and zinc mines in the vicinity of Makedonska Kamenica, Probištip, and Kriva Palanka in the eastern part of the country (Cd, Pb, and Zn), and the former lead and zinc smelter plant in Veles. Beside the anthropogenic influences, the lithology and the composition of the soil also play an important role in the distribution of the elements.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Atmospheric Heavy Metal Deposition in North Macedonia from 2002 to 2010 Studied by Moss Biomonitoring Technique

et al. 2020

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“…Those studies were repeated in 2005, 2015(Stafilov et al, 2018Barandovski et al, 2020). The first results suggest that the most important emission sources of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) are mines and smelters and therefore moss air pollution biomonitoring studies were focused on individual critical regions in the country, such as copper mines (Balabanova et al, 2010, ferronickel smelter plant (Bačeva et al, 2012), Pb-Zn mines and flotation plants (Angelovska et al, 2016;Balabanova et al, 2016) or As-Sb-Tl mine (Bačeva et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moss Biomonitoring of Air Pollution and Assessment of the Effects on Archeological Objects in Stobi, North Macedonia

Boev¹,

Nacev²,

Filova³

et al. 2022

GEOL

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and Zn) were determined in moss samples collected from 20 different locations in the ancient town of Stobi, North Macedonia. Determination was performed by the application of inductively coupled plasma with mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) after microwave digestion. It was found that the median values for the content of macroelements (Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mg) and for some specific trace elements (Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn) in moss samples from the Stobi site are higher to those obtained for the moss samples collected from the whole territory of North Macedonia. This significant increase in the contents of these elements is especially noticeable in the samples of moss taken from the monuments in Stobi, whose substrate is the mortar between lime and sandstones or sandstone, and in some cases when the substrate is a marble. Similar behavior has been observed also from the data for the median and the range of the content of these elements in the six moss samples collected from the wider vicinity of Stobi which have a noticeable increase in the median values of Ca, Co, Cr, Fe, Ni, Sr, and Zn compared to the median for the samples taken from the entire territory of North Macedonia. It was concluded that the contamination of the moss samples from Stobi, apart from the substrate from which they were taken, is also affected by the distribution of dust from the surrounding soils, in which the content of elements with increased contents is significantly higher than the average for soils from the entire territory of North Macedonia.

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Study on moss biomonitoring of atmospheric deposition of minor and trace elements in the region of Polog, North Macedonia

Stafilov,

Šajn,

Ćulumoska‐Gjorgjievska

2023

Environmental Quality Mgmt

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A study was conducted to investigate air deposition and to explore the natural or anthropogenic sources of contamination with potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in the region of Polog, North Macedonia, using moss samples as biomonitors of air pollution. The distribution of 22 elements was detected in 43 moss samples collected in the region. Multivariate statistical analysis was applied to the available data. Factor analysis identified five association factors, of which four factors, F1 (Cr, Li, V, Co, Fe, Al, Ni, and As), F2 (K, P, and Mg), F4 (Ag and Cu), and F5 (Ba, Sr, and Mn) were related to lithogenic sources and one factor F3 (Hg, Pb, Cd, and Zn) was related to mixed lithogenic and anthropogenic sources. The content of the elements of F1 is higher in the areas on Mount Šar (area without industrial and urban activities), where Precambrian and Paleozoic shales and Paleozoic sandstones predominate, indicating that their origin is mainly a natural phenomenon. The high contents of the elements from F2, F4, and F5 are also related to the lithology of the studied region. Thus, the high contents of elements from F2 are distributed in the western part of the area, where Precambrian and Paleozoic shists and Paleozoic sandstones dominate, and their contents correlate well with the contents of lithogenic elements in the soil samples from the same region. Elements of Factor 4 have higher contents in the southern part of the region, in areas with Paleozoic‐Mesozoic carbonates and Precambrian‐Paleozoic shales, while elements of Factor 5 occur in the regions with shales, Quaternary sedimentary rocks, and Precambrian‐Paleozoic shales, also indicating the lithogenic character of this factor. In addition to the lithogenic origin of the distribution of elements contained in F3 (Hg, Pb, Cd, and Zn), anthropogenic activities also have an influence on the increased content in the northeastern part of the region. This is due to dust emissions from the Silmak ferrosilicon smelter, as well as emissions from industry (steel smelters) and urban activities of the nearby capital Skopje.

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Geogenic and Anthropogenic Moss Responsiveness to Element Distribution Around a Pb–Zn Mine, Toranica, Republic of Macedonia

Cited by 21 publications

References 33 publications

Atmospheric Heavy Metal Deposition in North Macedonia from 2002 to 2010 Studied by Moss Biomonitoring Technique

Atmospheric Heavy Metal Deposition in North Macedonia from 2002 to 2010 Studied by Moss Biomonitoring Technique

Moss Biomonitoring of Air Pollution and Assessment of the Effects on Archeological Objects in Stobi, North Macedonia

Study on moss biomonitoring of atmospheric deposition of minor and trace elements in the region of Polog, North Macedonia

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