Atmospheric deposition of radionuclides and major and trace elements by moss biomonitoring technique

The present study was undertaken as a survey of radiological and chemical air pollution on both the European and Asian sides of Istanbul, Turkey. In this framework, radionuclide activity concentrations and selected metal amounts in moss samples collected from urban, suburban, industrial, and green zone areas in Istanbul were determined following the moss biomonitoring technique. The activity concentrations in the moss samples vary from 2 to 20 Bq/kg for²²⁶Ra, from 4 to 23 Bq/kg for²³²Th, and 359 to 2,809 Bq/kg for⁴⁰K for both sides of the city. Concentrations of Al, As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Ni, Pb, Sb, V, and Zn were determined by ICP-ES. Additionally, potential ecological impacts of atmospheric deposition for selected metals based on moss analysis around Istanbul were assessed. Results show that the enrichment factor for the European side was greater than 10 for Pb.