Pollution characteristics of atmospheric dustfall and heavy metals in a typical inland heavy industry city in China

Through field sampling of atmospheric dustfall in regions of Zhuzhou City, China for a period of one year, the deposition fluxes of atmospheric dustfall and five heavy metals contained inside, including Cr, As, Cd, Hg and Pb, were analyzed. Meanwhile the enrichment factor and index methods were used to analyze the pollution characteristics of heavy metals of atmospheric dustfall in Zhuzhou. The annual deposition flux of atmospheric dustfall in Zhuzhou was 50.79 g/（m^2.year）, while the annual deposition fluxes of Cr, As, Cd, Hg and Pb were 9.80, 59.69, 140.09, 0.87 and 1074.91 mg/（m^2.year）, respectively. The pollution level of atmospheric dustfall in Zhuzhou was relatively lower compared with most other cities in China, but the deposition fluxes of As, Cd, Hg and Pb in atmospheric dustfall in Zhuzhou were much higher than that in most cities and regions around the world. Cd is the typical heavy metal element in atmospheric dustfall in Zhuzhou, and both the enrichment factor and pollution index of Cd were the highest. Cd, Hg, Pb and As in atmospheric dustfall were mainly from human activities. According to the single-factor index, Nemerow index and pollution load index analyses, the atmospheric dustfall in Zhuzhou could easily cause severe heavy metal pollution to urban soil, and the most polluting element was Cd, followed by Pb, As and Hg. Only the pollution level of Cr lay in the safety region and mainly originated from natural sources.

Atmospheric iron deposition in a megacity of northwest China:Solubility,speciation,and deposition fluxes

Atmospheric iron has crucial effects on biogeochemical cycles,atmospheric processing,global climate,and human health.In this study,atmospheric dustfall samples were collected from six functional areas in Xi'an,China,from 2020 to 2021.The spatiotemporal distributions and deposition fluxes of total and water-soluble(ws)Fe as well as the speciation and potential sources of ws-Fe were characterized.Industrial areas had the highest concentrations of total Fe and ws-Fe,which were mainly due to copious emissions of heavy metals during manufacturing.The total Fe concentrations peaked in spring,primarily due to the substantial input of crustal dust,which also led to the lowest Fe solubility in this season.By contrast,the highest levels of ws-Fe occurred during winter due to an increase in biomass combustion.Among the water-soluble forms,ws-Fe(II)was dominant and accounted for 74.8%of the total amount of ws-Fe.Crustal dust was the main contributor to total Fe,whereas biomass burning primarily contributed to peak ws-Fe concentrations.The average total and ws-Fe deposition fluxes in Xi'an were the highest in spring and lowest in autumn,which were related to the distributions of the dustfall deposition fluxes and their Fe contents during these periods.Our study provided a broader and comprehensive understanding of atmospheric iron deposition in Chinese urban area,which is of positive significance for understanding atmospheric chemistry and global climate change.