Biomonitoring of airborne metals in urban environments: new tracers of vehicle emission, in place of lead
“Capsule”: Barium and zinc, rather than lead, are suggested as effective tracers of automotive traffic. Samples of Quercus ilex leaves and of the inhalable fraction of atmospheric particulate (PM 10) were collected along a busy road and in a park in Florence (Italy). Quantitative comparisons and cor...
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Published in: | Environmental pollution (1987) Vol. 107; no. 3; pp. 321 - 327 |
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Main Authors: | , , , , |
Format: | Journal Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Oxford
Elsevier Ltd
01-03-2000
Elsevier |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | Get full text |
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Summary: | “Capsule”:
Barium and zinc, rather than lead, are suggested as effective tracers of automotive traffic.
Samples of
Quercus ilex leaves and of the inhalable fraction of atmospheric particulate (PM
10) were collected along a busy road and in a park in Florence (Italy). Quantitative comparisons and correlations of element concentrations in PM
10 collected by air samplers at two sites showed that Ba, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb and Zn were the main metal pollutants emitted by vehicles in Florence. Very similar results were obtained by the analysis of
Q. ilex leaves which were found to accumulate airborne metals as a function of the exposure time (i.e. their age). One-year-old leaves showed the highest rate of metal accumulation. Our results show that the progressive phasing-out of leaded petrol in Italy has resulted in a decrease of about 20% per year in the Pb concentrations in PM
10. Both PM
10 and
Q. ilex analysis singled out Ba and Zn as valid tracers of automotive traffic instead of Pb. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 |
ISSN: | 0269-7491 1873-6424 |
DOI: | 10.1016/S0269-7491(99)00175-X |