Amin Donyaei* and Alireze Pourkhabbaz
Dust storms happening frequently in arid and semiarid regions of the world carry huge amount of particulate matters; hence, these are recognized as one of the most important environmental issues at regional and international scales. This study aimed to evaluate heavy metals laden dustfall particles in Birjand, East Iran.
Sampling of dustfall particles was conducted once every 1 month from July 2016 for 6 month at three stations of Agriculture university, Aboozar avenue, and Shokat university simultaneously using Deposit Gauge Method. The concentration of Fe and Mn were measured using Flame Atomic.
Absorption Spectroscopy and Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy was used for analyzing Cd, Cr, Pb, As, Cu, and Zn. Then, pollution levels for the heavy metals were evaluated using Geo-Accumulation Index (Igeo) and Integrated Pollution Index (IPI). Mineralogy and morphology of the dustfall particles were inspected using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy.
Igeo index indicated that levels of pollution for Pb and Zn higher than other among the dustfall particles of the three stations whereas the concentrations of the other heavy metals were not evaluated as contaminant. Moreover, means of IPI values calculated for stations of Agriculture, Aboozar, and Shokat were 1.51, 1.99 and 1.66 respectively. X-ray diffraction revealed abundance of silicate (quartz) and carbonate (calcite) minerals in dustfall particles. Additionally, scanning electron microscopy emphasized on similarity of shape of dustfall particles in the three stations.
Mean of dustfall particles on area unit in Shokat station was less than Agriculture and Aboozar.
