title: Atmospheric deposition of rare earth elements in Albania studied by the moss biomonitoring technique, neutron activation analysis and GIS technology.
abstract: Rare earth elements (REEs) are typically conservative elements that are scarcely derived from anthropogenic sources. The mobilization of REEs in the environment requires the monitoring of these elements in environmental matrices, in which they are present at trace level. The determination of 11 REEs in carpet-forming moss species (Hypnum cupressiforme) collected from 44 sampling sites over the whole territory of the country were done by using epithermal neutron activation analysis (ENAA) at IBR-2 fast pulsed reactor in Dubna. This paper is focused on REEs (lanthanides) and Sc. Fe as typical consistent element and Th that appeared good correlations between the elements of lanthanides are included in this paper. Th, Sc, and REEs were never previously determined in the air deposition of Albania. Descriptive statistics were used for data treatment using MINITAB 17 software package. The median values of the elements under investigation were compared with those of the neighboring countries such as Bulgaria, Macedonia, Romania, and Serbia, as well as Norway which is selected as a clean area. Geographical distribution maps of the elements over the sampled territory were constructed using geographic information system (GIS) technology. Geochemical behavior of REEs in moss samples has been studied by using the ternary diagram of Sc-La-Th, Spider diagrams and multivariate analysis. It was revealed that the accumulation of REEs in current mosses is associated with the wind-blowing metal-enriched soils that is pointed out as the main emitting factor of the elements under investigation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tirana, Blv. "Zog I", 1000, Tirana, Albania.
authors.forename: Sh
authors.initials: Sh
authors.lastname: Allajbeu
authors.affiliation: Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Joliot-Curie Str., 6, 1419890, Dubna, Russia.
authors.forename: N S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Yushin
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Vlora, Blv. "Pavaresia", 9400, Vlora, Albania.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Qarri
authors.affiliation: Department of Structure of Matter, Earth and Atmospheric Physics and Astrophysics, University of Bucharest, 405, Atomistilor str., P.O. Box MG-11, 077125, Magurele (Ifov), Romania.
authors.forename: O G
authors.initials: OG
authors.lastname: Duliu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tirana, Blv. "Zog I", 1000, Tirana, Albania. pranveralazo@gmail.com.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lazo
authors.affiliation: Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Joliot-Curie Str., 6, 1419890, Dubna, Russia.
authors.forename: M V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Frontasyeva
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis; D000415:Albania; D044002:Bryophyta / Q000737:chemistry*; D019068:Bryopsida; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D008674:Metals, Rare Earth / Q000032:analysis*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009501:Neutron Activation Analysis
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D008674:Metals, Rare Earth
keywords: ENAA; GIS technology; Moss biomonitoring; Normalized pattern; REEs; Soil dust; Spatial distribution