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Ferruginous compounds in the airborne particulate matter of the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil

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Abstract

Samples of soil, iron ore, and airborne particulate matter (size <10 μm) were analyzed with the main goal of investigating the differentiating physicochemical properties of their ferruginous compounds. These data were used to identify whether the sources of airborne particulate matter in the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, are either from natural origin, as, for instance, re-suspension of particles from soil, or due to anthropogenic activities, meaning that it would be originated from the many iron ore minings surrounding the metropolitan area. Numerical simulations were used to model the atmospheric dispersion of the airborne particulate matter emitted by iron mining located at the Iron Quadrangle geodomain, Minas Gerais. Results from these numerical simulations supported identifying the sites with the highest concentrations of airborne particulate matter in the metropolitan area. Samples of these suspended materials were collected at the selected sites by using high-volume air samplers. The physicochemical features of the solid materials were assessed by X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction, magnetometry, and 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy. The soil materials were found to be rich in quartz, aluminum, organic matter, and low contents of iron, mainly as low crystalline iron oxides. The samples of the iron ores, on the other hand, contain high concentration of iron, dominantly as relatively pure and crystalline hematite (α-Fe2O3). The samples of the airborne particulate matter are rich in iron, mainly as hematite, but contained also quartz, aluminum, and calcium. Mössbauer spectroscopy was used to evaluate the hyperfine structure of 57Fe of the hematite both from the iron ore and the soil samples. The structural characteristics of the hematite of these particulate materials were further explored. The direct influence of the iron ore mining on the composition of the airborne particulate matter was clearly evidenced based on the trace ability of hematite to its source of emission. Even the atmospheric air on regions relatively far away from the mining activities is also significantly influenced.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. Alberto Avellar Barreto for his help to model the atmospheric dispersion and also the Center for the Development of the Nuclear Technology (CDTN; Brazil), Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Level Personnel (CAPES; Brazil), Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), and Foundation for Supporting the Scientific and Technological Research of the Minas Gerais State (FAPEMIG; Brazil) for funding this project. JDF thanks CAPES (Brazil) for granting his professorship at the UFVJM, under the PVNS program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Developing Center of Nuclear Technology, Campus UFMG–Pampulha, Av. Presidente Antônio Carlos 6.627, Caixa Postal 941, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, 30123-970, Brazil

    Fernanda Vasconcelos Fonseca Tavares, José Domingos Ardisson, Paulo César Horta Rodrigues & Vanusa Maria Delage Feliciano

  2. Federal University of Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri (UFVJM), Diamantina, Minas Gerais, 39100-000, Brazil

    José Domingos Fabris

  3. Department of Chemistry, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Campus–Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, 31270-901, Brazil

    José Domingos Fabris

  4. Department of Physics, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Campus–Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, 31270-901, Brazil

    Luis Eugenio Fernandez-Outon

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  1. Fernanda Vasconcelos Fonseca Tavares
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  2. José Domingos Ardisson
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  3. Paulo César Horta Rodrigues
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  4. José Domingos Fabris
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  5. Luis Eugenio Fernandez-Outon
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  6. Vanusa Maria Delage Feliciano
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Correspondence to Fernanda Vasconcelos Fonseca Tavares.

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Tavares, F.V.F., Ardisson, J.D., Rodrigues, P.C.H. et al. Ferruginous compounds in the airborne particulate matter of the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 19683–19692 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9613-1

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