Abstract
Summary In the Badgastein healing gallery aerosol fractions were collected with an 8-stage cascade impactor device. The Fe, Cr, Zn, Co and Sc concentrations were measured by INAA. The values found for Fe, Cr and Co and especially their increase with particle size in the coarse aerosol mode indicated their origin by mechanical grinding of the gallery train tracks or old metal wall brackets. Metal ratios derived from irradiation of a gallery rock sample as well as from wipe tests from the tracks and floor supported these findings. Fe2O3 contents in the particles >1 μm were 19% (1–2 μm) and 70% (2–4 μm); however, also in the impactor stages covering the accumulation mode the rust content was between 1.7 and 5.1%. As these numbers clearly succeeded the Fe content of the rock sample, the Fe origin (as well as the origin of Cr and Co) presumably was again in the tracks and wall brackets; for the metal loads of the smaller aerosol fractions chemical weathering in the mine atmosphere might be the predominant process. Zn was mainly found in the fine particles; it probably had corroded from the zinc coatings of the gallery train.
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