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Trace elements in the Venezuelan savannah atmosphere during dry and wet periods, with and without vegetation burning

1990; Elsevier BV; Volume: 24; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/0960-1686(90)90121-3

1878-2124

JoséAgustin Morales, Mariela Hermoso, Juan Antonio Cámara Serrano, Eugenio Sanhueza,

Mercury impact and mitigation studies

Airborne atmospheric concentrations of 13 trace elements were measured in four rural Venezuelan savannah sites. Particle size distributions were also determined with a five stage Hivol-cascade impactor. Chemical analysis were made by atomic absorption spectroscopy. In general, with only few exceptions, during vegetation burning periods levels were higher with a very large fraction of fine particles. Ca and Mg were mainly found in insoluble particles. All the time Al, Fe and Mn show a large fraction of small particles; highly weathered savannah soils could be the source of fine particles of these elements during non-burning periods. Typical anthropogenic metal Cu, Zn, Ni, V, Cd and Zn have relatively low atmospheric concentrations showing that the Venezuelan savannah region is little affected by industrial or vehicular air pollution.