Study of the evolution of heavy metals emissions in the southeastern part of Romania

Abstract

Heavy metals emitted from anthropogenic activities can be transported into the atmosphere over long distances and can have significant negative effects on human health and the environment. Heavy metals are toxic pollutants that act on various organs and systems of the human body, their effects being specific to each substance. Because of their reduced mobility, heavy metals are concentrated at each trophic level, the highest concentration being reached at the ends of food chains, where, most of the times, humans stand. This paper presents the spatial and temporal evolution of heavy metals concentrations in the Southeastern part of Romania. The Southeastern region we studied included the counties of: Braila, Buzau, Constanta, Galati and Tulcea, respectively. The database of the Romanian National Air Quality Monitoring Network (RNMCA) was used for this study.
The data taken from the RNMCA network consisted in the concentrations of As, Cd, Ni and Pb, respectively, which were recorded between January 2020 and May 2022. The monthly evolution of the chosen pollutants was studied. Pearson and Spearman correlations were used in order to study the influence of climatic factors on the heavy metals pollutants.