Contamination assessment of copper, lead, zinc and chromium in dust fall of Jinan, NE China

Abstract

To assess the pollution of heavy metal in dust fall, nine dust fall samples were collected during the heating period and non-heating period from Jinan, a city in northeastern China. The samples were analyzed for Cu, Pb, Zn and Cr and the contamination level of heavy metals was assessed on the basis of the geo-accumulation index (Igeo). The results indicated that all of the four investigated metals accumulated significantly in the dust fall of Jinan, and the metal concentrations were much higher than background values. During the heating period, the mean values for Cu, Pb, Zn and Cr in the dust fall were 354.9, 688.5, 2,585.5 and 478.6 mg kg−1. During the non-heating period, the mean values for Cu, Pb, Zn and Cr in the dust fall were 228.2, 518.2, 1,933.9 and 96.3 mg kg−1, respectively. The Igeo values calculated based on background values revealed that the contamination level of heavy metal in the dust fall ranges from moderately contaminated to heavily contaminated, and it mainly originates from traffic and industry. In this work, the dust fall residue compared to the standard reference was also chosen as the background value to calculate the Igeo value. This method is useful for situations in which the background value is difficult to obtain.