TITLE:
Metal Concentrations in Snow Samples in an Urban Area in the Po Valley
AUTHORS:
C. Telloli
KEYWORDS:
Air Quality, Snow, SEM-EDS, IC, ICP-MS
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Geosciences,
Vol.5 No.10,
September
26,
2014
ABSTRACT: This
study shows a chemical and morphological characterization of snow samples
collected near crossroads of urban area of Ferrara and near the Technological
College of University of Ferrara (Italy) during three important snowfalls. The
field campaigns were carried out in the eastern part of Po Valley (Italy) in
winter 2009-2010. The chemical composition of melted snow was compared with
analyses of the same filtered samples of melted snow so as to give the
composition of particles smaller than a few nm. The metal concentrations in the
aerosol particles were analyzed with ICP-MS and IC methodologies, while the
morphological features were described by SEM-EDS analyses. The results showed
that snow samples were characterized by important amounts of allumo silicates
with dimensions larger than 0.45 μm, from resuspension of the local soil, and
IC analysis confirmed the anthropogenic pollution of the snow. Six main particles
were classed and recognized: silica, carbonate, allumo silicate, sodium
chloride and organic compounds, including biogenic materials and pollen
(agricultural aerosols which are composed for 92% of single particles and for
the remaining 8% of agglomerations of particles). We present here initial data
on heavy metals in snow collected in Ferrara. They were obtained by analyzing
fresh snow deposited during three snowfall events in December 2010, February
and March 2011. The analyses were performed by the inductively coupled plasma
mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), ion chromatography (IC) and scanning electron
microscopy (SEM-EDS).