engleski

Atmospheric deposition of Cd, Hg, and Pb in Croatiaand neighbouring countries: Assessment based on moss analysis

The results of comparison of median concentrations of most toxic elements Cd, Hg, and Pb in moss samples collected in Croatia in 2006 and in neighboring countries such as Hungary, Serbia, Macedonia, Austria, Italy, Romania, and Bulgaria (moss survey 2000/2001) are reported. As follows from the figure below, Croatia has shown to be among most pristine territories with regard Cd and Pb contamination. The median Hg concentrations do not vary greatly in the compared areas. The GIS maps of elemental distributions of Cd, Hg, and Pb constructed for Croatia evidence that the highest concentrations of Cd (max 1.9 μ g/g) and Hg (max 0.3 μ g/g) are observed along the north-east border with Hungary and could be attributed to a long range atmospheric transport from this neighbouring country, whereas Pb (max 82 μ g/g) is associated with the local pollution sources in the industrial central part of Croatia. So far it is realized now that human health and wellbeing is affected by much lower levels of heavy metals than previously assumed the importance of these studies is ever growing.

moss samples ; toxic elements ; environment and health protection

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