title: Investigation of spatial and historical variations of air pollution around an industrial region using trace and macro elements in tree components.
abstract: Several trace and macro elements (n=48) were measured in pine needle, branch, bark, tree ring, litter, and soil samples collected at 27 sites (21 industrial, 6 background) to investigate their spatial and historical variation in Aliaga industrial region in Turkey. Concentrations generally decreased with distance from the sources and the lowest ones were measured at background sites far from major sources. Spatial distribution of anthropogenic trace elements indicated that their major sources in the region are the iron-steel plants, ship-breaking activities and the petroleum refinery. Patterns of 40 elements that were detected in most of the samples were also evaluated to assess their suitability for investigation of historical variations. Observed increasing trends of several trace and macro elements (As, Cr, Fe, Mo, Ni, V, Cu, Pb, Sb, Sn, and Hg) in the tree-ring samples were representative for the variations in anthropogenic emissions and resulting atmospheric concentrations in Aliaga region. It was shown that lanthanides (La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd, Dy, Er, Yb) could also be used for the investigation of historical variations due to specific industrial emissions (i.e., petroleum refining). Results of the present study showed that tree components, litter, and soil could be used to determine the spatial variations of atmospheric pollution in a region while tree rings could be used to assess the historical variations.
authors: Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Dokuz Eylul University, Tinaztepe Campus, 35160 Buca, Izmir, Turkey. Electronic address: mustafa.odabasi@deu.edu.tr.
authors: Mustafa
authors: M
authors: Odabasi
authors: Department of Forestry Engineering, Faculty of Forestry, Istanbul University, 34470 Sariyer, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors: Doganay
authors: D
authors: Tolunay
authors: Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Dokuz Eylul University, Tinaztepe Campus, 35160 Buca, Izmir, Turkey.
authors: Melik
authors: M
authors: Kara
authors: Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Dokuz Eylul University, Tinaztepe Campus, 35160 Buca, Izmir, Turkey.
authors: Ezgi
authors: E
authors: Ozgunerge Falay
authors: Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Dokuz Eylul University, Tinaztepe Campus, 35160 Buca, Izmir, Turkey.
authors: Gizem
authors: G
authors: Tuna
authors: Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Dokuz Eylul University, Tinaztepe Campus, 35160 Buca, Izmir, Turkey.
authors: Hasan
authors: H
authors: Altiok
authors: Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Dokuz Eylul University, Tinaztepe Campus, 35160 Buca, Izmir, Turkey.
authors: Yetkin
authors: Y
authors: Dumanoglu
authors: Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Dokuz Eylul University, Tinaztepe Campus, 35160 Buca, Izmir, Turkey.
authors: Abdurrahman
authors: A
authors: Bayram
authors: Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Dokuz Eylul University, Tinaztepe Campus, 35160 Buca, Izmir, Turkey.
authors: Tolga
authors: T
authors: Elbir
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D007221:Industry; D028223:Pinus / Q000737:chemistry*; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D014131:Trace Elements / Q000032:analysis*; D014421:Turkey
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D014131:Trace Elements
keywords: Dendrochemistry; Spatial variation; Trace elements; Tree bark; Tree rings