Seasonal Variations and Sources of 17 Aerosol Metal Elements in Suburban Nanjing, China
In this work, the seasonal variations and sources of trace metal elements in atmospheric fine aerosols (PM2.5) were investigated for a year-long field campaign from July 2012 to June 2013, conducted in suburban Nanjing, eastern China, at a site adjacent to an industry zone. The PM2.5 samples collect...
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MDPI AG
2016-11-01
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| Series: | Atmosphere |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/7/12/153 |
| _version_ | 1819000480890617856 |
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| author | Lu Qi Mindong Chen Xinlei Ge Yafei Zhang Bingfang Guo |
| author_facet | Lu Qi Mindong Chen Xinlei Ge Yafei Zhang Bingfang Guo |
| author_sort | Lu Qi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this work, the seasonal variations and sources of trace metal elements in atmospheric fine aerosols (PM2.5) were investigated for a year-long field campaign from July 2012 to June 2013, conducted in suburban Nanjing, eastern China, at a site adjacent to an industry zone. The PM2.5 samples collected across four seasons were analyzed for 17 metal elements, namely, Sodium (Na), Magnesium (Mg), Aluminum (Al), Vanadium (V), Chromium (Cr), Manganese (Mn), Nickel (Ni), Copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn), Arsenic (As), Selenium (Se), Strontium (Sr), Cadmium (Cd), Barium (Ba), Lead (Pb), Molybdenum (Mo), and Antimony (Sb) using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). We found that the total concentration of all 17 metal elements was 1.23 μg/m3, on average accounting for 1.0% of the total PM2.5 mass. For our data, mass concentrations of Al, Cd, Ba were highest in summer, Mg, Cu, Zn, Se, Pb peaked in autumn, Cr, Mn, Ni, As, Sr, Sb increased significantly in winter, while the concentrations of Na, V, Mo were at their highest levels in spring. Air mass back trajectory analysis suggested that air parcels that arrived at the site originated from four dominant regions (Japan, yellow sea and bohai; Southeast of China, the Pacific Ocean; Southwest of Jiangsu and Anhui province; Northern Asia inland and Mongolia region), in particular, the one from Northern Asia inland and Mongolia contained the highest concentrations of As, Sb, Sr, and was predominant in winter. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) analyses revealed that the industrial emission is the largest contributor (34%) of the observed metal elements, followed by traffic (25%), soil dust (19%), coal combustion (10%), incineration of electronic waste (9%), and a minor unknown source (3%). In addition, we have also investigated the morphology and composition of particles by using the scanning electron microscopy (SEM)/energy-dispersive spectrometry (EDS) techniques, and identified particles from coal burning sources, etc., similar to the PMF results. |
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| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T22:34:00Z |
| publishDate | 2016-11-01 |
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| spelling | doaj.art-ba845adaa3e14d748ef07f3c0697ebf82022-12-21T19:24:39ZengMDPI AGAtmosphere2073-44332016-11-0171215310.3390/atmos7120153atmos7120153Seasonal Variations and Sources of 17 Aerosol Metal Elements in Suburban Nanjing, ChinaLu Qi0Mindong Chen1Xinlei Ge2Yafei Zhang3Bingfang Guo4Collaborative Innovation Center of Atmospheric Environment and Equipment Technology, Nanjing 210044, ChinaCollaborative Innovation Center of Atmospheric Environment and Equipment Technology, Nanjing 210044, ChinaCollaborative Innovation Center of Atmospheric Environment and Equipment Technology, Nanjing 210044, ChinaCollaborative Innovation Center of Atmospheric Environment and Equipment Technology, Nanjing 210044, ChinaCollaborative Innovation Center of Atmospheric Environment and Equipment Technology, Nanjing 210044, ChinaIn this work, the seasonal variations and sources of trace metal elements in atmospheric fine aerosols (PM2.5) were investigated for a year-long field campaign from July 2012 to June 2013, conducted in suburban Nanjing, eastern China, at a site adjacent to an industry zone. The PM2.5 samples collected across four seasons were analyzed for 17 metal elements, namely, Sodium (Na), Magnesium (Mg), Aluminum (Al), Vanadium (V), Chromium (Cr), Manganese (Mn), Nickel (Ni), Copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn), Arsenic (As), Selenium (Se), Strontium (Sr), Cadmium (Cd), Barium (Ba), Lead (Pb), Molybdenum (Mo), and Antimony (Sb) using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). We found that the total concentration of all 17 metal elements was 1.23 μg/m3, on average accounting for 1.0% of the total PM2.5 mass. For our data, mass concentrations of Al, Cd, Ba were highest in summer, Mg, Cu, Zn, Se, Pb peaked in autumn, Cr, Mn, Ni, As, Sr, Sb increased significantly in winter, while the concentrations of Na, V, Mo were at their highest levels in spring. Air mass back trajectory analysis suggested that air parcels that arrived at the site originated from four dominant regions (Japan, yellow sea and bohai; Southeast of China, the Pacific Ocean; Southwest of Jiangsu and Anhui province; Northern Asia inland and Mongolia region), in particular, the one from Northern Asia inland and Mongolia contained the highest concentrations of As, Sb, Sr, and was predominant in winter. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) analyses revealed that the industrial emission is the largest contributor (34%) of the observed metal elements, followed by traffic (25%), soil dust (19%), coal combustion (10%), incineration of electronic waste (9%), and a minor unknown source (3%). In addition, we have also investigated the morphology and composition of particles by using the scanning electron microscopy (SEM)/energy-dispersive spectrometry (EDS) techniques, and identified particles from coal burning sources, etc., similar to the PMF results.http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/7/12/153metal elementsaerosolseasonal variationssource apportionment |
| spellingShingle | Lu Qi Mindong Chen Xinlei Ge Yafei Zhang Bingfang Guo Seasonal Variations and Sources of 17 Aerosol Metal Elements in Suburban Nanjing, China Atmosphere metal elements aerosol seasonal variations source apportionment |
| title | Seasonal Variations and Sources of 17 Aerosol Metal Elements in Suburban Nanjing, China |
| title_full | Seasonal Variations and Sources of 17 Aerosol Metal Elements in Suburban Nanjing, China |
| title_fullStr | Seasonal Variations and Sources of 17 Aerosol Metal Elements in Suburban Nanjing, China |
| title_full_unstemmed | Seasonal Variations and Sources of 17 Aerosol Metal Elements in Suburban Nanjing, China |
| title_short | Seasonal Variations and Sources of 17 Aerosol Metal Elements in Suburban Nanjing, China |
| title_sort | seasonal variations and sources of 17 aerosol metal elements in suburban nanjing china |
| topic | metal elements aerosol seasonal variations source apportionment |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/7/12/153 |
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