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Geochemical, mineralogical and magnetic characteristics of vertical dust deposition in urban environment

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Abstract

Studies on composition and distribution of dust deposition are necessary for the risk assessment of dust to atmospheric quality. We studied the vertical distribution pattern of dust and metal (Cu, Fe, Pb, Zn) deposition up to 33 m height in urban environment. Integrated geochemical, mineralogical and magnetic study of the seasonally sampled dust helped to specify our knowledge on the use of magnetic susceptibility for tracking its deposition. Harmful dust and metal deposition may occur even at great heights and at the low-traffic side of buildings. Re-suspension of local surface materials dominates the dust deposition primarily in summer and spring due to weather conditions, and it may overwrite the influence of recent anthropogenic activities on dust composition. The accepted air-flow models should be modified by taking the local conditions (weather, morphology, etc.) into account. All studied metals showed strong enrichment in the dust and could be characterized by similar vertical deposition pattern to dust. The total susceptibility was found to be much more useful proxy for tracking dust and metal deposition than mass-specific susceptibility. Using the former, potential errors arising from sampling practice of settled dust could be eliminated. The most important heavy-metal-bearing phases were iron oxides and clay minerals. Their different behavior during the dust deposition is reflected by the vertical metal distribution patterns. Clay minerals originate primarily from re-suspension and may be one of the most important sources of potentially mobile heavy metals in such materials.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA K 76317 and K 75395). Péter Sipos also thanks for the support of the János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Institute for Geological and Geochemical Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budaörsi út 45, Budapest, 1112, Hungary

    Péter Sipos & Tibor Németh

  2. Paleomagnetic Laboratory, Geological and Geophysical Institute of Hungary, Columbus utca 17-23, Budapest, 1145, Hungary

    Emő Márton

  3. Research Centre of Natural Sciences, Institute of Materials and Environmental Chemistry, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Pusztaszeri út 59-67, Budapest, 1025, Hungary

    Zoltán May

  4. Institute of Technical Physics and Materials Science, Research Centre of Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Konkoly-Thege Miklós út 29-33, Budapest, 1121, Hungary

    Viktória Kovács Kis

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  1. Péter Sipos
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Correspondence to Péter Sipos.

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Sipos, P., Márton, E., May, Z. et al. Geochemical, mineralogical and magnetic characteristics of vertical dust deposition in urban environment. Environ Earth Sci 72, 905–914 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-013-3013-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-013-3013-8

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