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Atmospheric heavy metal deposition in Northern Vietnam: Hanoi and Thainguyen case study using the moss biomonitoring technique, INAA and AAS

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Abstract

Background, aim, and scope

The moss technique is widely used to monitor atmospheric deposition of heavy metals in many countries in Europe, whereas this technique is scarcely used in Asia. To implement this international reliable and cheap methodology in the Asian countries, it is necessary to find proper moss types typical for the Asian environment and suitable for the biomonitoring purposes. Such a case study was undertaken in Vietnam for assessing the environmental situation in strongly contaminated areas using local species of moss Barbula indica.

Materials and methods

The study is focused on two areas characterized by different pollution sources: the Hanoi urban area and the Thainguyen metallurgical zone. Fifty-four moss samples were collected there according to standard sampling procedure adopted in Europe. Two complementary analytical techniques, atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) and instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA), were used for determination of elemental concentrations in moss samples. To characterize the pollution sources, multivariate statistical analysis was applied.

Results and discussion

A total of 38 metal elements were determined in the moss by the two analytical techniques. The results of descriptive statistics of metal concentration in moss from the city center and periphery of Hanoi determined by AAS are presented. The similar results for moss from Thainguyen province determined by INAA and AAS are given also. A comparison of mean elemental concentrations in moss of this work with those in different environmental conditions of other authors provides reasonable information on heavy metal atmospheric deposition levels. Factor loadings and factor scores were used to identify and apportion contamination sources at the sampling sites. The values of percentage of total of factors show two highly different types of pollution in the two examined areas—the Hanoi pollution composition with high portion of urban-traffic activity and soil dust (62%), and the one of Thainguyen with factors related to industrial activities (75%). Besides, the scatter of factors in factor planes represents the greater diversity of activities in Hanoi than in Thainguyen.

Conclusions

Good relationship between the result of factor analysis and the pollution sources evidences that the moss technique is a potential method to assess the air quality in Vietnam.

Recommendations and perspectives

Moss B. indica widely distributed in Vietnam and Indo-China is shown to be a reliable bryophyte for biomonitoring purposes in sub-tropic and tropic climate. However, the necessity of moss interspecies calibration is obvious for further studies in the area to provide results compatible with those for other Asian countries and Europe.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Springer Science and Business Media for granting a permission to reuse figures in Nguyen-Viet et al. in Microbial Ecology 53(1):53–65. This study was supported by the University of Franche-Comté, the Hanoi University of Education, the French Embassy in Vietnam, and the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SCD) through the program of the National Center for Competences in Research (NCCR) North–South.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neutron Activation Analysis, Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, 141980, Dubna, Moscow Region, Russia

    Marina Vladimirovna Frontasyeva & Thu My Trinh Thi

  2. Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, Swiss Tropical Institute, Socinstrasse 57, P.O. Box 4002, Basel, Switzerland

    Hung Nguyen Viet

  3. Laboratoire de Chrono-environnement, UMR UFC/CNRS 6249 USC INRA, Université de Franche-Comté, Place Leclerc, 25 000, Besancon cedex, France

    Nadine Bernard

  4. Laboratoire de Chrono-environnement, UMR UFC/CNRS 6249 USC INRA, Université de Franche-Comté, Pôle Universitaire du Pays de Montbéliard, 4 place Tharradin, BP 71427, 25 211, Montbeliard cedex, France

    Daniel Gilbert

Authors
  1. Hung Nguyen Viet
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  2. Marina Vladimirovna Frontasyeva
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  3. Thu My Trinh Thi
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  4. Daniel Gilbert
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  5. Nadine Bernard
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Correspondence to Thu My Trinh Thi.

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Responsible editor: Henner Hollert

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Nguyen Viet, H., Frontasyeva, M.V., Trinh Thi, T.M. et al. Atmospheric heavy metal deposition in Northern Vietnam: Hanoi and Thainguyen case study using the moss biomonitoring technique, INAA and AAS. Environ Sci Pollut Res 17, 1045–1052 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-009-0258-6

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