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Monitoring of Airborne Mercury: Comparison of Different Techniques in the Monte Amiata District, Southern Tuscany, Italy

In the present study, mercury (Hg) concentrations were investigated in lichens (Flavoparmelia caperata (L.) Hale, Parmelia saxatilis (L.) Ach., and Xanthoria parietina (L.) Th.Fr.) collected in the surrounding of the dismissed Abbadia San Salvatore Hg mine (Monte Amiata district, Italy). Results wer...

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Autores principales: Rimondi, Valentina, Benesperi, Renato, Beutel, Marc W., Chiarantini, Laura, Costagliola, Pilario, Lattanzi, Pierfranco, Medas, Daniela, Morelli, Guia
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7177839/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32244315
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17072353
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author Rimondi, Valentina
Benesperi, Renato
Beutel, Marc W.
Chiarantini, Laura
Costagliola, Pilario
Lattanzi, Pierfranco
Medas, Daniela
Morelli, Guia
author_facet Rimondi, Valentina
Benesperi, Renato
Beutel, Marc W.
Chiarantini, Laura
Costagliola, Pilario
Lattanzi, Pierfranco
Medas, Daniela
Morelli, Guia
author_sort Rimondi, Valentina
collection PubMed
description In the present study, mercury (Hg) concentrations were investigated in lichens (Flavoparmelia caperata (L.) Hale, Parmelia saxatilis (L.) Ach., and Xanthoria parietina (L.) Th.Fr.) collected in the surrounding of the dismissed Abbadia San Salvatore Hg mine (Monte Amiata district, Italy). Results were integrated with Hg concentrations in tree barks and literature data of gaseous Hg levels determined by passive air samplers (PASs) in the same area. The ultimate goal was to compare results obtained by the three monitoring techniques to evaluate potential mismatches. Lichens displayed 180–3600 ng/g Hg, and Hg concentrations decreased exponentially with distance from the mine. Mercury concentration was lower than in Pinus nigra barks at the same site. There was a moderate correlation between Hg in lichen and Hg in bark, suggesting similar mechanisms of Hg uptake and residence times. However, correlation with published gaseous Hg concentrations (PASs) was moderate at best (Kendall Tau = 0.4–0.5, p > 0.05). The differences occurred because a) PASs collected gaseous Hg, whereas lichens and barks also picked up particulate Hg, and b) lichens and bark had a dynamic exchange with the atmosphere. Lichen, bark, and PAS outline different and complementary aspects of airborne Hg content and efficient monitoring programs in contaminated areas would benefit from the integration of data from different techniques.
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spelling pubmed-71778392020-04-28 Monitoring of Airborne Mercury: Comparison of Different Techniques in the Monte Amiata District, Southern Tuscany, Italy Rimondi, Valentina Benesperi, Renato Beutel, Marc W. Chiarantini, Laura Costagliola, Pilario Lattanzi, Pierfranco Medas, Daniela Morelli, Guia Int J Environ Res Public Health Communication In the present study, mercury (Hg) concentrations were investigated in lichens (Flavoparmelia caperata (L.) Hale, Parmelia saxatilis (L.) Ach., and Xanthoria parietina (L.) Th.Fr.) collected in the surrounding of the dismissed Abbadia San Salvatore Hg mine (Monte Amiata district, Italy). Results were integrated with Hg concentrations in tree barks and literature data of gaseous Hg levels determined by passive air samplers (PASs) in the same area. The ultimate goal was to compare results obtained by the three monitoring techniques to evaluate potential mismatches. Lichens displayed 180–3600 ng/g Hg, and Hg concentrations decreased exponentially with distance from the mine. Mercury concentration was lower than in Pinus nigra barks at the same site. There was a moderate correlation between Hg in lichen and Hg in bark, suggesting similar mechanisms of Hg uptake and residence times. However, correlation with published gaseous Hg concentrations (PASs) was moderate at best (Kendall Tau = 0.4–0.5, p > 0.05). The differences occurred because a) PASs collected gaseous Hg, whereas lichens and barks also picked up particulate Hg, and b) lichens and bark had a dynamic exchange with the atmosphere. Lichen, bark, and PAS outline different and complementary aspects of airborne Hg content and efficient monitoring programs in contaminated areas would benefit from the integration of data from different techniques. MDPI 2020-03-31 2020-04 /pmc/articles/PMC7177839/ /pubmed/32244315 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17072353 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Communication
Rimondi, Valentina
Benesperi, Renato
Beutel, Marc W.
Chiarantini, Laura
Costagliola, Pilario
Lattanzi, Pierfranco
Medas, Daniela
Morelli, Guia
Monitoring of Airborne Mercury: Comparison of Different Techniques in the Monte Amiata District, Southern Tuscany, Italy
title Monitoring of Airborne Mercury: Comparison of Different Techniques in the Monte Amiata District, Southern Tuscany, Italy
title_full Monitoring of Airborne Mercury: Comparison of Different Techniques in the Monte Amiata District, Southern Tuscany, Italy
title_fullStr Monitoring of Airborne Mercury: Comparison of Different Techniques in the Monte Amiata District, Southern Tuscany, Italy
title_full_unstemmed Monitoring of Airborne Mercury: Comparison of Different Techniques in the Monte Amiata District, Southern Tuscany, Italy
title_short Monitoring of Airborne Mercury: Comparison of Different Techniques in the Monte Amiata District, Southern Tuscany, Italy
title_sort monitoring of airborne mercury: comparison of different techniques in the monte amiata district, southern tuscany, italy
topic Communication
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7177839/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32244315
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17072353
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