Heavy Metal Pollution Levels and Health Risk Assessment of Dust Storms in Jazmurian Region, Iran

Abstract

The Jazmurian basin in Iran is an area affected by climate change and desertification where aerosols and dust storms are common. The aim of this work was to determine the human and ecological risks from atmospheric particles during dust storms in different cities in the Jazmurian basin. For this purpose, the dust samples were collected from Jiroft, Roodbar Jonoob, Ghaleh Ganj, Kahnooj and Iranshahr cities, which are located around the Jazmurian playa in south east of Iran. In this study, the OpenLCA 1.10.3 software was used to input the concentration of the measured trace metals and ReCiPe 2016 endpoint hierarchist impact assessment method was applied to determine the environmental impacts. Furthermore, the MODIS satellite products and the Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) were used to detect the amount of aerosol load in the atmosphere. The MODIS AOD data over the Jazmurian region indicated higher spatial distribution of aerosols in the south of the basin with gradual decreased towards the west. Moreover, the trace element composition of the collected particles was determined and used to evaluate human and ecological impact assessment. The human health risk assessment of the particles revealed high non-carcinogenic risks for children due to nickel and manganese and carcinogenic risks in both adults and children due to arsenic and cobalt. Terrestrial ecotoxicity was found to have the largest ecological impact on ecosystems with copper, nickel and zinc exhibiting the largest contributions.