Inter-annual variability of trace elements in PM10 and the associated health risk in coastal-urban region (southern Baltic Sea, Poland)

Abstract

This paper presents seasonal variation of 12 PM10-bound trace elements (As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sb, V), which were studied in a coastal-urban region of northern Poland, from 01 April 2019 to 27 May 2020. Trace elements such as As, Ni and Pb revealed the highest enrichment factor levels in winter, followed by autumn, spring and summer, whereas the seasonal distribution of EF for V presented some different trend (winter > summer > fall > spring). The PCA analysis showed several sources that contributed to PM10-bound trace elements: traffic-related emission, road and soil dust, domestic heating, metal industry-related emission and shipping activities. The highest hazard quotient (HQ) was found for Mn, followed by Co, Cr, As, Cd, Ni, Pb and Cu. The HQ values for all trace elements were within the acceptable range, indicating that there were no carcinogenic risks caused by exposure to trace elements in ambient air. The mean ILCR value for all trace elements during the whole observation period was much lower than the safe limit, however, the carcinogenic As showed significantly higher ILCR in female (1.2 × 10−6) than in male group (9.5 × 10−7, p < 0.05).