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Characteristics and impacts of trace elements in atmospheric deposition at a high-elevation site, southern China

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Abstract

To investigate the regional background trace element (TE) level in atmospheric deposition (dry and wet), TEs (Fe, Al, V, Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Mo, Cd, Ba, and Pb) in 52 rainwater samples and 73 total suspended particles (TSP) samples collected in Mt. Lushan, Southern China, were analyzed using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The results showed that TEs in wet and dry deposition of the target area were significantly elevated compared within and outside China and the volume weight mean pH of rainwater was 4.43. The relative contributions of wet and dry depositions of TEs vary significantly among elements. The wet deposition fluxes of V, As, Cr, Se, Zn, and Cd exceeded considerably their dry deposition fluxes while dry deposition dominated the removal of pollution elements such as Mo, Cu, Ni, Mn, and Al. The summed dry deposition flux was four times higher than the summed wet deposition flux. Prediction results based on a simple accumulation model found that the content of seven toxic elements (Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, and Pb) in soils could increase rapidly due to the impact of annual atmospheric deposition, and the increasing amounts of them reached 0.063, 0.012, 0.026, 0.459, 0.076, 0.004, and 0.145 mg kg−1, respectively. In addition, the annual increasing rates ranged from 0.05% (Cr and Ni) to 2.08% (Cd). It was also predicted that atmospheric deposition induced the accumulation of Cr and Cd in surface soils. Cd was the critical element with the greatest potential ecological risk among all the elements in atmospheric deposition.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the National Science Foundation of China (41475115), the Science and Technology Development Project of Shandong Province (2014GSF117037), and the Major Technology Project of Independent Innovation of Shandong Province (2014GJJS0501). We are grateful to the Mt. Lushan Meteorological Station for support of the field study and to the Shandong province Environmental Monitoring Centre for chemical analysis of samples.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, China

    Xiaoling Nie, Yan Wang, Yaxin Li, Tao Li & Minmin Yang

  2. Environment Research Institute, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, China

    Lei Sun & Wenxing Wang

  3. Shandong Academy of Environmental Science, Jinan, 250013, China

    Xueqiao Yang

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  1. Xiaoling Nie
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Correspondence to Yan Wang.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

Electronic supplementary material

Figure S1

Correlation analysis of TE concentrations and the pH of rainwater (DOCX 30903 kb)

Table S1

Ratios of TE concentrations in PM2.5 and total TSP in Mt. Lushan (DOCX 16 kb)

Table S2

Effect of atmospheric deposition on TE concentrations (mg kg-1) in surface soil (DOCX 16 kb)

Table S3

(DOCX 16 kb)

Table S4

(DOCX 16 kb)

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Nie, X., Wang, Y., Li, Y. et al. Characteristics and impacts of trace elements in atmospheric deposition at a high-elevation site, southern China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 22839–22851 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8791-1

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