engleski

Study on the biomonitoring of the air pollution in Croatia by using moss samples, ICP-AES and AAS

The purpose of this study is to determine the air pollution in Croatia with heavy metals by using moss biomonitoring technique. Moss samples were collected during the summer and autumn of 2010 from 121 sampling sites evenly distributed over the country. The content of 21 elements was analysed by ICP-AES and AAS. Descriptive statistics was done from the results of the analyses for all elements. In order to show association between the elements PCA was applied. Six factors (F1 to F6) were determined, of which two are anthropogenic (F3 and F6), two are mixed geogenic-anthropogenic (F1 and F5) and two are geogenic factor groups (F2 and F4). Distribution of the elements is shown with maps which were constructed using GIS technology. Comparison of the median values of some of the anthropogenic elements As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, V and Zn with those obtained from the previous study in 2006, shows that anthropogenic pollution has changed insignificantly over the last four years. By comparing the results with the data from Norway, it may be noted that Croatia is somewhat polluted but still shows a more favourable picture when it is compared with some of the neighbouring countries.

Air pollution; heavy metals; moss biomonitoring; AAS; ICP-AES; Principal component analyses (PCA); GIS technology; Croatia

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