Abstract
Metals can be apprehended in the atmospheric environment of copper and iron mining areas of Jharkhand, which falls in one of the most mineralized areas of India with extensive mining and industrial activities. The study was taken up to appraise the metal contamination in the atmospheric dust to evaluate the metal fluxes and associated health risk considering the seasonal variations. Sixty samples were analyzed for As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn using the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) and the contamination levels were assessed by various indices. The metal content of dustfall samples exceeded the average shale values for most of the metals. Higher metal concentrations were found in the locations in close vicinity of mining and industrial areas. The principal component analysis suggested both geogenic and anthropogenic sources for metals in the atmospheric dustfall. Human health risk as determined by hazard quotient (HQ) and hazard index (HI) suggested considerable risk to the child populace through the ingestion pathway for both the mining areas, higher being in iron mining areas. The metal flux and the health risk were higher in summers as compared to winters for both the mining areas. Consequently, the results advocate the necessity of periodic monitoring of the freefall dust of the mining areas and development of proper management strategies to reduce the metal pollution.
Highlights
With the rapid growth of industrialization, urbanization and mining activities in recent years, significant environmental issues have arisen in the atmosphere
The metal concentrations were observed to be generally higher at the locations of Benasol and Ghatsila
From the estimation of metal concentration in the dust samples collected from this study from both copper and iron mining areas, we obtained a better knowledge regarding the impact of the mining and allied activities on the atmospheric environment and the potential risk to the local population
Summary
With the rapid growth of industrialization, urbanization and mining activities in recent years, significant environmental issues have arisen in the atmosphere. One of the vital air contaminants is atmospheric dustfall, which is an accumulation of naturally occurring and anthropogenic solid particles (Mostafaii et al 2021). Natural dust particles are generated by soil erosion, whereas human activities such as traffic, industrial emissions, and rehabilitation or construction produce a significant amount of anthropogenic dust to the atmosphere (Adachi and Tainosho 2005). Atmospheric dust contaminants constituting of potentially toxic elements have contributed to extreme air pollution causing various health effects, including bronchial diseases caused by inhalation of dust (Zhou et al 2014; Lu et al 2015). Other than inhalation; prolonged exposure to polluted dust by absorption, dermal contact and ingestion of food contaminated with dust can cause chronic health problems (Neil 1990; Radha et al 1999). Metals are known to initiate a number of health implications like damage in central nervous system, cardiovascular diseases, gastrointestinal problems, infertility, carcinogenicity, neurological, bone and mental disorders (Kulshestha and Sharma 2015; Fo et al 2016)
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