Seasonal Levels, Sources, and Health Risks of Heavy Metals in Atmospheric PM<sub>2.5</sub> from Four Functional Areas of Nanjing City, Eastern China
Aerosol pollution is a serious environmental issue, especially in China where there has been rapid urbanization. To identify the intra-annual and regional distributions of health risks and potential sources of heavy metals in atmospheric particles with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 2...
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doaj-d8cc1799185c4a35839040734d0210662020-11-24T20:53:06ZengMDPI AGAtmosphere2073-44332019-07-0110741910.3390/atmos10070419atmos10070419Seasonal Levels, Sources, and Health Risks of Heavy Metals in Atmospheric PM<sub>2.5</sub> from Four Functional Areas of Nanjing City, Eastern ChinaLichun Wu0Xiao-San Luo1Hongbo Li2Long Cang3Jie Yang4Jiangli Yang5Zhen Zhao6Mingwei Tang7International Center for Ecology, Meteorology, and Environment, Collaborative Innovation Center of Atmospheric Environment and Equipment Technology (AEET), School of Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing 210044, ChinaInternational Center for Ecology, Meteorology, and Environment, Collaborative Innovation Center of Atmospheric Environment and Equipment Technology (AEET), School of Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing 210044, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, ChinaKey Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, ChinaKey Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, ChinaKey Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, ChinaInternational Center for Ecology, Meteorology, and Environment, Collaborative Innovation Center of Atmospheric Environment and Equipment Technology (AEET), School of Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing 210044, ChinaInternational Center for Ecology, Meteorology, and Environment, Collaborative Innovation Center of Atmospheric Environment and Equipment Technology (AEET), School of Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing 210044, ChinaAerosol pollution is a serious environmental issue, especially in China where there has been rapid urbanization. To identify the intra-annual and regional distributions of health risks and potential sources of heavy metals in atmospheric particles with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 2.5 μm (PM<sub>2.5</sub>), this work collected monthly PM<sub>2.5</sub> samples from urban, industrial, suburban, and rural areas in Nanjing city during 2016 and analyzed the heavy metal compositions (Cu, Pb, Cd, Co, V, Sr, Mn, Ti, and Sb). Enrichment factors (EFs) and principal component analysis (PCA) were applied to investigate the sources. The atmospheric PM<sub>2.5</sub> pollution level was highest in the industrial area, followed by the urban and suburban areas, and was the lowest in the rural area. Seasonally, the concentrations of PM<sub>2.5</sub> and associated heavy metals in spring and winter were higher than those in summer and autumn. Besides natural sources, heavy metal pollution in PM<sub>2.5</sub> might come from metallurgical dust in the industrial area, while it mainly comes from automobile exhaust in urban and suburban areas. Health risk assessments revealed that noncancerous hazards of heavy metals in PM<sub>2.5</sub> were low, while the lifetime cancer risks obviously exceeded the threshold. The airborne metal pollution in various functional areas of the city impacted human health differently.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/10/7/419atmospheric fine particulate matterheavy metalsspatiotemporal distributionssource identificationhuman health risk assessments |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Lichun Wu Xiao-San Luo Hongbo Li Long Cang Jie Yang Jiangli Yang Zhen Zhao Mingwei Tang |
spellingShingle |
Lichun Wu Xiao-San Luo Hongbo Li Long Cang Jie Yang Jiangli Yang Zhen Zhao Mingwei Tang Seasonal Levels, Sources, and Health Risks of Heavy Metals in Atmospheric PM<sub>2.5</sub> from Four Functional Areas of Nanjing City, Eastern China Atmosphere atmospheric fine particulate matter heavy metals spatiotemporal distributions source identification human health risk assessments |
author_facet |
Lichun Wu Xiao-San Luo Hongbo Li Long Cang Jie Yang Jiangli Yang Zhen Zhao Mingwei Tang |
author_sort |
Lichun Wu |
title |
Seasonal Levels, Sources, and Health Risks of Heavy Metals in Atmospheric PM<sub>2.5</sub> from Four Functional Areas of Nanjing City, Eastern China |
title_short |
Seasonal Levels, Sources, and Health Risks of Heavy Metals in Atmospheric PM<sub>2.5</sub> from Four Functional Areas of Nanjing City, Eastern China |
title_full |
Seasonal Levels, Sources, and Health Risks of Heavy Metals in Atmospheric PM<sub>2.5</sub> from Four Functional Areas of Nanjing City, Eastern China |
title_fullStr |
Seasonal Levels, Sources, and Health Risks of Heavy Metals in Atmospheric PM<sub>2.5</sub> from Four Functional Areas of Nanjing City, Eastern China |
title_full_unstemmed |
Seasonal Levels, Sources, and Health Risks of Heavy Metals in Atmospheric PM<sub>2.5</sub> from Four Functional Areas of Nanjing City, Eastern China |
title_sort |
seasonal levels, sources, and health risks of heavy metals in atmospheric pm<sub>2.5</sub> from four functional areas of nanjing city, eastern china |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Atmosphere |
issn |
2073-4433 |
publishDate |
2019-07-01 |
description |
Aerosol pollution is a serious environmental issue, especially in China where there has been rapid urbanization. To identify the intra-annual and regional distributions of health risks and potential sources of heavy metals in atmospheric particles with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 2.5 μm (PM<sub>2.5</sub>), this work collected monthly PM<sub>2.5</sub> samples from urban, industrial, suburban, and rural areas in Nanjing city during 2016 and analyzed the heavy metal compositions (Cu, Pb, Cd, Co, V, Sr, Mn, Ti, and Sb). Enrichment factors (EFs) and principal component analysis (PCA) were applied to investigate the sources. The atmospheric PM<sub>2.5</sub> pollution level was highest in the industrial area, followed by the urban and suburban areas, and was the lowest in the rural area. Seasonally, the concentrations of PM<sub>2.5</sub> and associated heavy metals in spring and winter were higher than those in summer and autumn. Besides natural sources, heavy metal pollution in PM<sub>2.5</sub> might come from metallurgical dust in the industrial area, while it mainly comes from automobile exhaust in urban and suburban areas. Health risk assessments revealed that noncancerous hazards of heavy metals in PM<sub>2.5</sub> were low, while the lifetime cancer risks obviously exceeded the threshold. The airborne metal pollution in various functional areas of the city impacted human health differently. |
topic |
atmospheric fine particulate matter heavy metals spatiotemporal distributions source identification human health risk assessments |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/10/7/419 |
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