Lead Concentrations in Detroit, New York, and Los Angeles Air

Sources and elemental composition of aerosol in Pasadena, California, by energy-dispersive x-ray fluorescence

“…Airborne Pb emissions increase with speed (16,17,35), while CO emissions decrease (48,49); judging from figures given by Habibi (16,17) for Pb and by Duprey (48) for CO, our slope corresponds to a speed of ~27 mph. Freeway traffic, comprising some 37% of the vehicle-miles driven in the basin (50), would be characterized by slopes of 1 to 1.4, approximately (51), corresponding to high speeds. It would be difficult to argue that the freeways, and hence the basin at large, are contributing substantially to the Pb and CO observed at our site.…”

Physiological effects, wind reentrainment, and rainwash of lead aerosol particulate deposited on plant leaves

“…Other sources include the burning of fossil fuels for heating and energy conversion. In Los Angeles an average daily high of 18.4 pg m-3 has been measured near a freeway interchange while the annual average in various places throughout the city varied from 0.04 to 11.3 pg m-3 (1). Air Pb contents of 1-7 pg m-3 have been observed in San Diego with Pb comprising from 1 to 7% of all airborne particulate in the downtown area (2).…”

Elemental composition of suspended particulate matter in metropolitan New York

“…losses of lead by volatilization do not occur. The extreme dependence of ambient lead concentrations on local environment is well known (Colucci and Begeman, 1969;Daines et al, 1970; Working Group on Lead Contamination, 1965) and so this discrepancy is not completely unexpected.…”