Abstract
BackgroundThe atmosphere is usually contaminated by heavy metals from different natural and anthropogenic sources. The levels of heavy metals in the atmosphere often become harmful and cause environmental pollution with serious health consequences to humans when their concentrations exceed certain threshold limits. The determination of the atmospherically suspended particulate matter in general and toxic trace metallic concentrations in particular, is, therefore, necessary for the evaluation of the sources and fate of atmospherically deposited suspended particulate matter. The assessment of the concentration levels of suspended particulate trace metals like Zn and Pb in the cities of Enugu and Abakaliki southeastern Nigeria was performed to assess the concentrations of atmospherically suspended metals in the area, their sources, and their pollution status.ResultsResults of the study showed that Zn concentration levels were not significant at all the sampling points, while the concentrations of Pb particulate matter which ranged from 0.11 to 0.91 µg/m3 exceeded the international revised EPA Pb standard of 0.15 µg/m3 but within the approved Federal Ministry of Environment (FMEnv) Nigeria, 24 h long duration of 1 µg/m3, and National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) 1 h duration (1 µg/m3). The enrichment factor (EF) showed that Pb had a dominant crustal source, while Zn was determined to be of minor to moderate crust enrichment. The multivariate analysis carried out using principal component analysis (PCA) based on varimax rotation and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) plotted in biplot and dendrogram diagrams revealed the levels of dependency and grouping, whereas Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient (PC) revealed a strong link between the two metallic pollutantsConclusionThis study therefore which applied statistical and pollution assessment of atmospherically suspended particulate matter has revealed the importance of monitoring atmospherically suspended materials resulting from anthropogenic sources like mining, quarrying, construction, etc. Similarly, the use of statistical techniques like PCA, HCA, and Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient to the study of ambient air quality has proved to be a useful tool in the assessment of atmospheric pollution. The findings of the present study therefore will be invaluable in the monitoring of particulate matter pollution of the atmosphere and their control measures, especially in mining districts.
Highlights
The atmosphere is usually contaminated by heavy metals from different natural and anthropogenic sources
The highest Pb level at Abakaliki rural area (ARR) and Enugu rural site (ERR) is close to the approved Federal Ministry of Environment (FMEnv) 24 h. long duration of 1 μg/m3, National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for 1 h. duration (1 ug/m3), and 1.4 μg/m3 of (NESREA) National environmental standards and regulation agency, but it is a higher value when compared to the revised United states environmental protection agency (EPA) lead standard of 0.15 μg/m3 as shown in Fig. 1 (Obioh et al 2005; Aloha et al 2016; Frank et al 2019)
The concentration levels of suspended Zn and Pb particulate matter were investigated at 10 sampling sites, during the August break period of the rainy season in Abakaliki and Enugu towns of Southeastern, Nigeria
Summary
The atmosphere is usually contaminated by heavy metals from different natural and anthropogenic sources. The air pollutants can be transported to become part of biochemical cycles in the environment and may even enter the human body via the food chain as part of less harmful reactive products or harmless metabolites (Cimboláková et al 2020; Shah 2021) They may form part of the toxic environmental chemicals, that are persistent, toxic, with bioaccumulative potentials which have necessitated the general public concerns to reduce their impact on human health and the environment (Ali et al 2019; Briffa et al 2020). The Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) present in the environment is well-known to cause harmful effects because the human tissue can absorb them via breathing When these suspended particulates containing some heavy metals in different forms are ingested or inhaled, they can result in very damaging health hazards (Obioh et al 2005; Gray et al 2015). They can cause photochemical smog, haze, and mists when the environment exceeds the natural capacity to dissipate, dilute or even absorb them, the need to study these atmospherically suspended pollutants (Chen et al 2021)
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