Impact of Mining Activities on the Air Quality in The Village Nearby a Coal Strip Mine

Abstract

The objective of the presented study was to estimate a share of atmospheric aerosol emitted by coal strip mine on PM10 or PM1-10, mass concentration of aerosol particles < 10μm or 1-10μm in aerodynamic diameter respectively, in the village situated in proximity to the mine. Parallel measurements were conducted in the mine and village situated in the northern part of the Czech Republic from the 15th to 27th November 2012. Three size fractions, consisting PM10, were sampled by a Davis rotating-drum impactor and analysed for 27 elements by Synchrotron-XRF with time resolution 1 hour. Appropriate hourly PM10 were measured by a Beta attenuation monitor in the village and calculated from 5 minute values by a nephelometer in the mine. Also, 24 hour aerosol samples for five size fractions were sampled by a personal cascade impactor sampler and viewed by scanning electron microscopy - SEM. Meteorological parameters were also recorded. Average contribution of coarse aerosol, PM1-10, to PM10 was 70% (119 +59 μgm-3) in the mine and 20% (12 + 10 μgm-3) in the village. The SEM revealed solely soil particles in the mine samples but bioaerosol, ash and aggregates of ultrafine particles in the village samples. Databases of hourly elemental and mass concentrations from the two localities were analysed by EPA PMF 5.0. There were revealed following sources/average contribution to local PM10: wood burning/34%, resuspended dust/30%, coal combustion/22%, industry/11% and gypsum/3% in the village while resuspended dust/43%, coal combustion/37%, gypsum/16% and mining technologies/4% in the mine. Based on factor chemical profiles, the mine was found to contribute to PM1-10 and PM10 in the village by 6% and 20%, respectively.