Atmospheric heavy metal deposition in Northern Europe 1990

Abstract

Atmospheric heavy metal deposition in northern Europe including Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden and adjacent areas of Russia, was monitored by moss technique. Total concentrations of cadmium, chromium, copper, iron, lead, nickel vanadium and zinc were analysed. Results are presented in the form of maps. The regional deposition pattern shows a decreasing gradient from relatively high values in the southern parts of Scandinavia to low values towards the North. The gradient is steep for cadmium, lead and vanadium, whereas the concentrations of chromium, copper, iron, nickel and zinc show weaker gradients. Lead, which originates from anthropogenic emission sources, is found in lower concentrations in the arctic regions of Svalbard and Iceland. Chromium, copper, iron, and vanadium, originating also from soil dust or volcanic activity, are found in high concentrations in sparsely vegetated arctic regions. Important local enhancements of the concentrations in moss were found superimposed on the regional background pattern in northern Sweden at the smelter at Roennskaer, in Norway at Odda, in Finland at the copper and nickel smelter in Harjavalta and at the steel mill in Tornio, as well as in Russia in the western part of the Kola peninsula, especially at the great smelting combinates in Nikel and Monchegorsk. Higher levels of metals are found in the industrial north-eastern area of Estonia, close to Liepaja (steel mill) and Riga in Latvia and at Mazeikiai (oil refinery) in Lithuania, and in the metropolitan area of St. Petersburg as well as industrial areas in the NW, SW and SE of the Leningrad oblast. A significant decrease in the concentrations of most elements was found. (AB) (14 refs.).