Metals and mineral phases of dusts collected in different urban parks of Krakow and their impact on the health of city residents

Abstract

The authors present the results of chemical and mineralogical analyses of urban dusts collected in the spring seasons of 2015 and 2016 in three different parks of the Cracow agglomeration. The parks are located in the city centre, in the Nowa Huta industrial district and in a new housing development situated around 9 km west of the city centre. Mineralogical instrumental analyses included the SEM, FTIR and XRD methods and revealed that the dusts of Cracow are highly amorphous and contain significant amounts of hydrocarbons, whereas quartz, feldspars, kaolinite and gypsum are their crystalline phases. Chemical analyses were carried out using the ICP-MS method on aqua regia extracts of the starting samples. The contents of selected toxic elements are: As 5–123; Cd 1–14; Pb 56–258; Zn 486–1891 mg/kg and Fe 0.74–4.02 wt%. The health risk of these elements imposed on the residents of Cracow frequently visiting the three urban parks was assessed on the basis of the health quotient index HQ. At its values exceeding 1, adverse health effects are probable in humans. The HQ values calculated for As and Tl contained in the Cracow Park dusts in the case of adults are 3.42E−01 and 3.00E−01, respectively. They are significantly higher (one order of magnitude) in the case of children 3.19E+00 and 2.27E+00, respectively.

Spatial Distribution, Chemical Speciation and Health Risk of Heavy Metals from Settled Dust in Qingdao Urban Area

“…Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr, Ni contents were higher than in Beijing [24,39], Nanjing [28], Chengdu [4], Jordan [40] and Massachusetts [41] (Table 2). However, Hg, Cu, Pb, Zn and Cr contents were lower than in Krakow [20]. Except for Cu, the metal contents were comparable with those in Shanghai, but most metals were lower than in Hong Kong [14].…”

“…The Zn content in Warsaw, the capital of Poland [42], was about twice that of Qingdao, which might be related to the local industrial and historical background of Warsaw. Higher contents of Cu, Pb, Zn, and Cr were recorded in Qingdao, Shanghai [43] and Krakow [20] from surface dust compared with street dust in the other cities excepting Hong Kong. Street dust might contain more coarse soil particles, while particles of the surface dust were finer.…”

“…Partial metals in surface dust are also dissolved in mega-city acid rain, and are then carried to rivers by runoff and affect the safety of aquatic ecosystems [15,16]. Because of the high content of harmful metals in dust, the health assessment of heavy metals from street/road/park dust collected in different urban functional areas was performed [4,[17][18][19][20].…”

Analysis of Natural Vulnerability of Groundwater Intakes to Migration of Surface Pollutants Based on a Selected Part of the Dunajec River Basin

“…The time of vertical migration is a complex criterion, used for, e.g., determining the potential hazard to a major groundwater basin [17]. The evaluation of the protective properties of the vadose zone was performed using Bindeman's empirical method (formulas: (1) and (2). This method assumes an advection (convection) model of vertical transport of a conservative pollutant [18].…”

Soil Bioavailability of Cadmium, Lead, and Zinc in Areas of Zn-Pb Ore Mining and Processing (Bukowno, Olkusz)

“…in the changes in cytoplasmic membrane permeability (Larcher 2003). The micro-and macroelement uptake is also affected by the physical and chemical parameters of the soil, including: pH; structure and granularity; type and content of the colloidal fraction, mainly comprising Fe, Mn, and Al oxides and hydroxides; organic matter content; and content and characteristics of loamy minerals (Kicińska 2018, Kicińska, Bożęcki 2018. Soil microorganisms also play a significant role in element uptake from the soil, typically increasing element phytoavailability.…”