Nickel spreading assessment in New Caledonia by lichen biomonitoring coupled to air mass history
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Nickel spreading assessment in New Caledonia by lichen biomonitoring coupled to air mass history Estelle Roth 1 & Jérémie Burgalat 1 & Emmanuel Rivière 1 & Mariam Zaiter 1 & Abdelkhaleq Chakir 1 & Camille Pasquet 2 & Peggy Gunkel-Grillon 2 Received: 8 April 2020 / Accepted: 15 September 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Lichen biomonitoring and air mass trajectories were used to study the influence of mining activities in the atmospheric dispersion of metallic elements to assess the exposure of the population to dust emitted by mining activities. A map of forward trajectory densities from open mine surfaces throughout New Caledonia was computed and allowed to identify three preferred wind directions (trade wind, bent trade winds and oceanic winds) that could arise in mining particles dispersion all over New Caledonia. Areas where an air quality monitoring would be advisable to evaluate the exposure of the population to the Nickel dusts have been identified. Lichens collected around the industrial mining site KNS and in North Provence of New Caledonia were analysed for their Ni, Co, Cr, Zn and Ti contents. Backward trajectories were simulated from the lichen sampling point using FLEXTRA fed with ECMWF meteorological data, and densities of trajectories having overflown a mine were calculated. Ratio metal/Ti was then plotted as a function of air mass trajectory densities having overflown open pits. A positive correlation between trajectory densities and titanium-normalized metal in lichen for Ni, Co, Cr was highlighted, indicating that mining is a source of dispersion of these metals. For Zn, which is a tracer of fossil fuel or biomass (wood) combustion activity, no correlation was found. Keywords Lichen . Biomonitoring . Metals . Atmospheric modelling
Introduction New Caledonia is very low anthropized. The only industrial activity is the nickel mining and ore treatment. Besides, the island Highlights • The nickel content of lichen is linked to the air mass density having overflown an open pit mine. • Co and Cr, metals associated to nickel in nickel ore, follow same trends than Ni. • Zn content in lichen is not related to air mass history having overflown an open pit mine. • West coast of New Caledonia could be more impacted by mining activities. Responsible editor: Gerhard Lammel * Estelle Roth [email protected] 1
Groupe de Spectrométrie Moléculaire et Atmosphérique GSMA, UMR CNRS 7331, Université de Reims, Moulin de la Housse, B.P. 1039, 51687 Reims Cedex 2, France
2
Institut des Sciences Exactes et Appliquées, ISEA, Université de la Nouvelle-Calédonie BPR4, 98851 Noumea Cedex, New Caledonia
is under populated (12 inhab km−2) and traffic, biomass and fossil combustion are other anthropization sources. As a consequence nickel is mainly emitted by mining activities. In this sense, New Caledonia is a privileged site for the study of emissions related to a mining activity because of its insularity and its weak industrialization outside the nickel
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