Wpływ emisji przemysłu metalurgicznego na rozwój wybranych składników depozycji atmosferycznej na terenie Koszyc (Słowacja)

Abstrakt

The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of emissions and their decrease on the level of environmental burden through the study of selected atmospheric deposition parameters in the area with the dominant source of emissions from the iron and steel production complex. Total atmospheric deposition (AD), i.e., j. both wet and dry, was sampled from eleven sampling points at a distance of 3 to 16 kilometers from the ironworks complex. AD fluxes of selected elements (Fe, Al, Mn, Zn, Pb, Cu, Cr, Cd, As) and dust particles (PM) were evaluated in relation to the amount of emissions from the results of long-term AD monitoring (2009 – 2022). The analysis shows the dominant influence of emissions from the metallurgical industry on the deposition fluxes of most of the monitored parameters and, thus, on the environmental burden of the area. The emissions have a decisive impact on the AD of manganese, iron, chromium, particulate matter, zinc, and aluminum, but also, to a lesser extent, on the AD of the other monitored elements. Correlation analysis confirmed a statistically significant dependence between the amount of emissions and the mass fluxes of AD for iron, zinc, manganese, and chromium for most of the sampling sites. The potential of immission load of the urban environment of Košice by emissions from the metallurgical industry is significantly higher in the winter due to local specific meteorological conditions. The more than sevenfold decrease in emissions significantly affected the AD of most of the monitored parameters, but their decrease was not so significant except for the AD of lead. The average AD of the elements strongly associated with ironworks emission sources, namely iron, manganese, chromium, and zinc, decreased approximately twofold. The amount of emissions is only one of several factors that affect the quantity of fluxes of the monitored AD parameters. In addition to seasonal factors, local meteorological, climatic, orographic, and other local conditions, and specifics also play an essential role.