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Determination of atmospheric pollution around the thermoelectric power plant using a moss biomonitoring

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Abstract

To establish the level of atmospheric deposition of heavy metals in Bitola and its environs, Republic of Macedonia, biomonitoring moss technique was applied. Moss samples were collected from 38 locations in the area of 1,400 km2. About 60 elements were analyzed by the application of inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and atomic emission spectrometry with inductively coupled plasma (ICP-AES). The obtained results of the investigated elements were statistically processed, and the maps of areal distribution were prepared. Two geogenic (F1 and F4) and two anthropogenic geochemical associations (F2 and F3) were determine: F1 (Al, As, Ba, Be, Bi, Co, Cr, Cs, Fe, Ga, Ge, Hf, In, Li, Ni, Rb, Sc, Sr, Ta, Te, Tl, V, Y, Zr, lanthanides and platinum group metals); F2 (Ag, Cd, Cu, Hg, Pb, Sn and Zn); F3 (B, Ca, K, Mg, Na and P) and F4 (Nb, Sb and W). On the basis of visual inspection of similarities of spatial distribution of element patterns, comparison of basic statistical parameters, the correlation coefficient matrices and the results of multivariate statistical analyses were established. Arsenic was a special case; it was the only element that illustrates the operation of open pit brown coal mining and thermoelectric power plant (REK-Bitola).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Ss Cyril and Methodius University, POB 162, 1000, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia

    Bojana Dimovska, Trajče Stafilov & Katerina Bačeva

  2. Geological Survey of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Robert Šajn

  3. INCDO-INOE 2000 Research Institute for Analytical Instrumentation (ICIA), Cluj-Napoca, Romania

    Claudiu Tănăselia

Authors
  1. Bojana Dimovska
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  2. Robert Šajn
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  3. Trajče Stafilov
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  4. Katerina Bačeva
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  5. Claudiu Tănăselia
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Correspondence to Trajče Stafilov.

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Dimovska, B., Šajn, R., Stafilov, T. et al. Determination of atmospheric pollution around the thermoelectric power plant using a moss biomonitoring. Air Qual Atmos Health 7, 541–557 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-014-0257-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-014-0257-8

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