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Spatio-temporal variation of air pollutants around the coal mining areas of Jharia Coalfield, India

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Abstract

Jharia Coalfield (JCF) is one of the oldest coalfields in the eastern part of India and falls under critically polluted areas as per CPCB/MoEFCC Notification. Therefore, a study of air pollution and its management is the demand of the day. This study had been undertaken to know the current status of JCF concerning air quality. Ambient air quality monitoring with reference to particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), SO2, NOx and trace elements had been conducted in the coal mining areas of JCF. The study area was divided into two groups, mainly fire and non-fire for the sampling of air. Principal component analysis (PCA) identified coal mine fire as a major source of air pollution in the mining areas of JCF. Air quality index (AQI) was calculated which revealed that the air quality index of coal mine fire-affected areas was nearly 1.5 times higher than that of the non-mine fire areas.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Indian Institute Technology (Indian School of Mines) Dhanbad for providing all the necessary laboratory facilities during the research work. One of the authors (Shilpi Mondal) is also thankful to the Ministry of Human Resource Development for providing IIT (ISM) JRF fellowship.

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  1. Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, Jharkhand, 826004, India

    Shilpi Mondal, Gurdeep Singh & Manish Kumar Jain

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Correspondence to Gurdeep Singh.

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Mondal, S., Singh, G. & Jain, M.K. Spatio-temporal variation of air pollutants around the coal mining areas of Jharia Coalfield, India. Environ Monit Assess 192, 405 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-020-08324-z

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