Seasonal variations and sources of various elements in the atmospheric aerosols in Qingdao, China

Abstract

Seasonal variations and sources of various elements in the atmospheric aerosols of the North China coast were investigated by analyzing aerosol samples collected in Qingdao, China. 23 total suspended particulate (TSP) samples were collected from June 2001 to May 2002, including three samples gathered during Asian dust episodes (20 March and 7–8 April 2002). The concentrations of ten elements including iron (Fe), titanium (Ti), manganese (Mn), vanadium (V), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd) and sulfur (S) were measured by 3000 ICP-OES. All elements measured in the aerosols of Qingdao displayed a strong seasonal variation: the concentrations of Fe, Ti, Mn, V, Ni, Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd were the lowest in summer, and the highest in winter. During the Asian dust episodes, the concentrations of Fe, Ti, Mn, V, Ni, Cu increased remarkably. The concentrations of Pb, Zn, Cu, S also increased greatly during the Asian dust episodes, but they were still lower than those in winter. The enrichment factors (EFs) of all elements (with reference to crustal Fe) indicate that Ti and Mn are mainly from soil sources. V in the Qingdao aerosols is mainly derived from the soil, with a minor contribution from ship emissions. The anthropogenic sources have a relatively higher contribution to Ni and Cu compared with Fe, Ti, and Mn. The S, Pb, Zn and Cd are mainly from anthropogenic sources even during Asian dust episodes. Principal component analysis (PCA), and cluster analysis (CA) indicated that the natural sources contributed about 60% to the sum of measured elements in all samples and anthropogenic sources contributed about 30%, and these elements can be classified into three categories as follow: Fe, Ti, Mn, V, and Ni represent the soil source factor; Cu represents the factor of mixed sources of soil and pollution; and Pb, Zn, Cd and S represents the pollution factor.