Abstract
The aim of this study was to assess the spatial variation in the concentrations of total arsenic (Astotal), arsenite (As(III)), arsenate (As(V)), monomethylarsonic acid (MMAs(V)), and dimethylarsinic acid (DMAs(V)) in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and to explore the influence of local emission sources based on the monitoring data from 18 sampling sites in Nanjing, China. The results showed that the average concentration of Astotal in the PM2.5 was 6.81 ng/m3 in Nanjing, which exceeded the standard limit of 6 ng/m3 in China. As(V) was the dominant species and varied between 71 and 81% of water-extractible As in the PM2.5. The results of the spatial variation coefficients (CVs) showed that Astotal, As(III), and As(V) displayed moderate levels of spatial heterogeneity (CV = 0.23), while DMAs(V) a considerably high level (CV = 0.60). The concentrations of Astotal and As species can be arranged in the following order: urban background ~ urban street < suburban < rural < industrial sampling sites. This pattern was connected to the influence of three local emission sources (industrial source, road traffic, and biovolatilization), which were quantified by multiple linear regression. Results showed that local road traffic sources had the smallest value of standardized regression coefficient (0.26) among these three sources, indicating that local road traffic sources contributed less to the concentration of As in PM2.5 than industrial source emissions and biovolatilization. Our findings indicate that the spatial heterogeneity of As species should be considered in exposure assessments and As biovolatilization is linked to the high heterogeneity.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Hua Gong from the Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, for his help in analysis for As chemical speciation in PM2.5 samples.
Funding
This work was supported by the National Key Project of MOST (grant number 2017YFC0209501); the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (grant number BK20150915); and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 41501197).
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Capsule: The level of spatial heterogeneity was moderate for Astotal, As(III) and As(V) and was considerably high for DMAs(V).
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Yang, M., Zhou, M., Liu, X. et al. Concentrations of total arsenic and arsenic species in PM2.5 in Nanjing, China: spatial variations and influences of local emission sources. Air Qual Atmos Health 14, 271–281 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-020-00932-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-020-00932-5