Analysis of deposition of heavy metal dust on the leaves of few selected tree species in Kanchipuram town, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

Biomonitoring of heavy metals is one of the economic methods to identify and improve the quality of air. The aim of this work was to identify the concentration of nine heavy metals viz. Fe, Pb, Cu, Zn, Al, Cd, As, Cr and Mn in the ambient air deposited on the leaves of five tree species such as Saraca asoca, Terminalia catappa, Syzygium cumini, Ficus religiosa and Pongamia glabra collected from six sites such as Pallavarmedu (Site I), CSI hospital (Site II), Moongilmandapam (Site III), Collectrate (Site IV), Near Cancer Institute (Site V) and VellaGate (Site VI) of the Kanchipuram town of TamilNadu State, in the months of February - March 2019. Even with some differences in the concentration of nine heavy metals on the species, few were identified with significant correlation, suggesting that these pollutants were emitted from similar sources. The deposition of iron (235.53mg/kg) and aluminium (157.91mg/kg) were higher on the leaves of S.asoca compared with other species. The metals such as Cu, Cd, As, Pb and Cr were nil and not detected on the leaves, but Pb concentration was high (185.79 mg/kg) only on P. glabra at Site 2 and Cr (2.37 mg/kg) was found on the leaves of S. asoca at Site 1. The heavy metal dust deposited on the leaf surface was probably due to vehicular emission and other anthropogenic activities. The analysis showed that all the selected tree species acted as a biomonitor and should be grown that may help to improve the air quality of the area.