Foliar contamination and uptake from aerial sources investigated by INAA and XRFA

Abstract

The suitability of standard grass as bioaccumulator for different elements was investigated theoretically as well as experimentally using INAA and XRFA. The calculation is based on the annual mean values of elemental mass concentration in air at three sites with various characteristics and on the published data for deposition velocity. The potential contaminations computed in this way and supported by our experimental results were compared with the average mass contents in the standard grass. The resulting “degrees of potential contamination” show that for elements as Cr, Fe, Hg, Pb and Sb the monitoring with standard grass is normally possible, while for other elements (e.g. Br, Ca, Co, K, Mn, Na, Ni, S, Zn) the separation of contamination by film stripping method is indispensable. There is also an intermediate group (As, Ba, Se).