This study is aimed at assessing atmospheric deposition of heavy metals using the epiphytic moss genera Fabronia ciliaris collected from six urban sites in the Metropolitan Zone of the Toluca Valley in Mexico. The concentrations of K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Rb, Sr, and Pb were determined by total reflection X-ray fluorescence technique. Results show that the average metal concentration decrease in the following order: Fe (8207 mg/Kg) > Ca (7315 mg/Kg) > K (3842 mg/Kg) > Ti (387 mg/Kg) > Mn, Zn (191 mg/Kg) > Sr (71 mg/Kg) > Pb (59 mg/Kg) > Cu, V (32 mg/Kg) > Cr (24 mg/Kg) > Rb (13 mg/Kg) > Ni (10 mg/Kg). Enrichment factors show a high enrichment for Cr, Cu, Zn, and Pb which provides an evidence of anthropogenic impact in the industrial and urban areas, mainly due to the intense vehicular traffic and the fossil fuel combustion. Monitoring techniques in mosses have proved to be a powerful tool for determining the deposition of heavy metals coming from diverse point sources of pollution.

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Sediments from the Jose Antonio Alzate Reservoir (México) that receives large amount of industrial and municipal untreated waste water were analyzed in order to explore pollution by heavy metals. Samples from ten locations were analyzed to obtain particle size and concentrations of selected heavy metals in different sieve size fractions. Areas of deposition of fines are illustrated. The analysis of metal concentration by size fraction, the relative presence of metals, the ratio of metal concentrations to sediment particle size and additional information such as anthropogenic inputs, chemical association were used to explain the distribution pattern of heavy metals in the reservoir.

<p>Soil erosion is one of the most serious environmental problems caused by land-use changes in semi-arid regions of central Argentina. Hence, to understand the erosive dynamics in these regions becomes fundamental. </p><p>Sub-catchment Durazno del Medio (6.56 km<sup>2</sup>) is located 21 km northeast of San Luis City (S 33º 08’ 16” – W 66º 09’ 18”; S 33º 11’ 44” – W 66º 08’ 06”), in the central region of Argentina. The average annual temperature is 17 ºC. Annual rainfall ranges from 600 to 800 mm, with a tendency to increase in the last years. Rainfall varies seasonally, with a dry season from May to October and a rainy season from November to April. This agricultural catchment has been researched to identify critical hot spots of land degradation by applying sediment source fingerprinting techniques. </p><p>In the studied area, exotic tree plantations in protected areas (in a state of youth development), native woodland, roads (dirt and paved), agricultural fields, and channel banks were identified as sources of sediments. Most of the sources were found on quaternary deposits (loessoid deposits), except native forests and some roads, which were found in gneiss and migmatites. The sub-catchment has a drainage network formed by two water courses that converge into the main one. Channel sediments (mixtures) were collected at the end of the main channel.</p><p>The energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) analytical technique and the MixSIAR unmixing model were implemented to estimate the contribution of sediment sources in mixtures. The sources and mixtures (tablets) were analyzed in triplicate using a Si-Li detector SDD (resolution 145 keV, Kalpha Mn) with a X ray tube of 50 W and 50 kV. The tracers were analyzed using a fundamental parameters method. Since the selection of correct fingerprints has been proven to be an essential stage in the analysis, before unmixing the natural sediment samples, two artificial mixtures were made using known quantities of soil collected in the identified sources to test the precision and robustness of the tracers selection procedure. These analyses showed that the use of most of the tracers (25 elements) increases the exactitude of calculated proportions. The first mixture was made using two sources, exotic tree plantation in protected areas (35.6 %) and agricultural fields (64.4 %). The second mixture was created using different proportions of 4 different sources including native woodland (30 %), exotic tree plantation in protected areas (20 %), agricultural fields (5 %) and channel banks (45 %). A low mean absolute error (MAE) of 2 % and 4 %, respectively, was obtained when reconstructing the 2 artificial mixtures. This outcome indicates that the selection process was effective.</p><p>Once the tracers were properly selected, the natural sediment samples were analyzed. Hence, for the catchment mixture, the main sources of sediments were exotic tree plantation in protected areas (96.7 %) and roads (1.8 %). The application of the fingerprint technique highlighted that forests are one of the largest contributors of sediment, followed by dirt roads.</p>

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