Journal of Geochemical Exploration xxx (2014) xxx–xxx
GEXPLO-05369; No of Pages 13
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Journal of Geochemical Exploration
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Dust fall and elemental flux in a coal mining area
Tofan Kumar Rout a,b, Reginald Ebhin Masto a,⁎, Pratap Kumar Padhy b, Joshy George a,Lal Chand Ram a, Sudip Maity a
a Environmental Management Division, CSIR - Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Dhanbad, Jharkhand-828108, Indiab Department of Environmental Studies, Institute of Science, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, West Bengal-731235, India
Please cite this article as: Rout, T.K., et al., Dusj.gexplo.2014.04.003
a b s t r a c t
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:Received 6 October 2013Received in revised form 28 March 2014Accepted 7 April 2014Available online xxxx
Keywords:Dust fallMineralsMorphologyMiningCoalTrace elements
Air is a very essential part for the existence of humans and other living organisms. To know the quantum of at-mospheric dust fall and their mineral andmorphological characteristics, dust samples were collected atmonthlyintervals from three different sites (commercial, residential, and control) of the Jharia coal mining area, India.Sampleswere analysed for heavymetals,minerals, andmorphological features by ICP-AES, XRD, and SEM respec-tively. The yearly average dust fall was higher for the commercial site (15.5 t/km2/month) than the residentialsite (10.7 t/km2/month) of Jharia coal mining area. The dust deposition rate was highest during summer(March–June), followed by winter (October–February) and lowest in the monsoon season (July–September).The elemental fall was higher for Zn followed by Pb N Sr N Cu N V N Cr N Ni N Co. The major minerals in dustsfrom Jharia mining area were quartz, kaolinite, pyrite, albite, and magnesiohornblende. The SEM-EDS analysisshowed the dust in commercial sites has contributions from coal, and soil. In the residential site, soot particlesfromdomestic coal burning; and in control site, soot particles frombiomass burningwere observed in SEM.Over-all the intensity of dust pollution is more in the commercial sites of the coal mining area.
Air is a very essential part for the existence of human and other liv-ing organisms. Major air pollution sources can be broadly categorizedinto natural as well as anthropogenic emissions. Natural emissions arestill not in the control of humans wherein air pollution control technol-ogies can be incorporated to curb human emissions. The major anthro-pogenic sources of air pollution are industries (thermal power plants,refineries, steel plants, open cast mines, various coking and briquettingunits, etc.), vehicular and domestic emissions. Among various sources ofair pollution, mining is a major source of dust pollution (Ghose andMajee, 2000).
Opencast coalmines use large-scalemechanization and release hugequantities of dust and gases, which adversely affect human health(Dhar, 1994). Various processes of mining which releases huge quanti-ties of dust especially in open cast mining are topsoil removal, overbur-den removal, blasting and drilling operations, coal extraction, sizereduction, transportation of coal on haul roads, coal handling plant op-eration, loading of coal by shovel dumpers, etc. Dust fall rate and itschemical constituents are required in quantitative as well as qualitativeterms to study the dust pollution of a particular region (Harrison and
t Division, CSIR-Central InstituteI, Dhanbad-828108, India. Tel.:26 2381113.
t fall and elementalflux in a c
Perry, 1986). Managing dust from coal mines is important as it can im-pact local and regional air quality, adversely affect local amenity andpose a risk to public health. Pandey et al. (2008) reported amean annualdust fall of 96.2 ± 3.6 ton/km2/month in a sub-tropical opencast coalmine, Bina, India. The maximum dust deposition occurred in summer(32.8 ± 1 to 278.9 ± 2.9 ton/km2/month), and the lowest, in the rainyseason (16.2 ± 1.2 to 111.3 ± 3.2 ton/km2 per month).
Dust has a complex mineral and chemical composition as it comesfrom various sources and processes (Abed et al., 2009; Chen and Xu,2003) and provides reaction sites for various atmospheric reactingchemical species. These reacting species could cause modifications inthe properties of dust, therefore, it is necessary to study the source,composition, and content of falling dust as it can cause risk to humanhealth, ecology and atmospheric environment. Elements present inthe dust can influence terrestrial biogeochemistry through several pro-cesses. On short time-scales (days to weeks), dust directly affects vege-tation, (Farmer, 1993) alters the rate and timing of snowmelt, (Painteret al., 2007) and provides essential elements (nutrients) for plant andmicrobial productivity (Chadwick et al., 1999). In the long run, dustcan be an important factor in the formation and development of soils(Lawrence and Neff, 2009).
Jharia coalfield is the only coking coal production region in India lo-cated at 5 km south of the Dhanbad town of Jharkhand state. The pres-ence of active and abandoned coal mines, overburden dumps, cokingcoal plants and other coal based industries including refractories, poseserious threats to the air quality of the area. According to Ghose and
oalmining area, J. Geochem. Explor. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
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Majee (2000), a total of 9.4 t dust per day was generated due to miningoperations in an open cast mine of Jharia coalfield, of which 7.8 t wasgenerated due to various activities like topsoil removal, overburden re-moval, extraction of coal, size reduction of coal, etc. and 1.6 t per daywas contributed by wind erosion. It is reported that 80.2% of total dustemission is from the transport road of mines (CMRI, 1998), screeningplant is the next larger source of dust emission (8.1%) followed by over-burden removal (2.8%), top soil handling (2.6%), coal extraction (2.2%),drilling and blasting (1.3%), coal handling or stockpile (1.1%). Mandalet al. (2012) studied the dust emission from four different opencastcoal mines and found that dust emission was maximum in the haulroad (78.4–124.5 t/km) followed by transport road (48.0–98.2 t/km),and communication road (38.7–50.3 t/km).
Due to variousmining activities, Jharia isworst polluted by particulatematter and dust. The aesthetic view of this area is being exploited due toover exploration of coal, increase of overburden dumps, subsidence ofland due to underground mine fire, etc. To improve the living conditionsof the local people, there is an urgent requirement of data on dust pollu-tion and its general characteristics based on scientific disclosures tomakepossible policy guidelines and implementing of the same. The presentstudy was aimed to (i) measure the monthly and seasonal dust fallrate; (ii) assess the fluxes of the potentially toxic elements through dustfall; and (iii) characterise dust mineralogy and morphology.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Study area
Jharia town is located in the eastern part of Jharkhand state of India,between latitudes 23°44′53″N and 23°44′02″N; and longitudes 86° 25′13″ E and 86° 24′54″ E, with an average elevation of 202 m above themean sea level (Fig. 1). The area experiences tropical climate and ischaracterised by very hot pre-monsoon and cold winters. The monthofMay and half June is the peak of pre-monsoon seasonwith an averagemaximum temperature of 44 °C, while December and January are thecoldest months. Jharia has been actively associated with coal miningactivities for more than a century. There are many active opencast andundergroundmines, abandoned coalmines, natural coal fires, and over-burden dumps. The area is also affected by pollutions from vehicular ac-tivities. A control site, Chandankyari, 18 km away from the Jharia townwas also selected to compare the variations in dust fall. Control sitecomprises barren and some agricultural lands.
2.1.1. Geological settingJharia Coalfield is a member of the Damodar Valley coal belt, occur-
ring as an “outlier” in the Archaean basement area. The sedimentarysuccession, unconformably overlying the Archean gneissic basement,starts with the glaciogenic sediments of the Talchir Formation followedupward by fluvial and fluvio-lacustrine sediments successively of theBarakar, Barren Measures and Raniganj Formations deposited withinan intracratonic extensional setting (Dasgupta, 2005). The soil is greybrown to very pale brown sandy loam, and clay loam, the whole havinga sub-angular blocky structure. Ferromanganese concretions and claycontent are present in the subsoil (Chaulya et al., 2011).
2.2. Sample collection
2.2.1. Dust fall measurementThe study area was categorized into three different zones as com-
mercial site, residential site, and control site. Sampling points werefree from any obstacle, open to atmosphere and easily accessible. Ineach site, 5 separate sampling jars were placed on five different randomspots in a tripod stand. The sampling period was from October 2010 toSeptember 2011. Free dust fall samples were collected from these sam-pling jars (cylindrical shape glass jar having 15 cm diameter and 45 cmheight). Distilled water was placed in each of the collectors to prevent
Please cite this article as: Rout, T.K., et al., Dust fall and elementalflux in a cj.gexplo.2014.04.003
sample loss by blowing air. A glass funnel was kept at the mouth ofthe jar to prevent evaporation loss of water, loss of dust by wind andto prevent interference of birds and other animals. The collectors werethen placed in position in guard frame on roof tops of approximately 5m height. The jars were inspected periodically for water loss, andreplenished. Samples were collected at monthly intervals. At the endof sampling period, the residual water in the container was filteredand the residue was dried (105 °C) in a hot air oven and weighed. Themonth wise dust fall rate was calculated for each sampling sites. Theseasonal dust fall measurement was done by averaging the dust fallvalue of the concerned months (summer: March, April, May, and June;monsoon: July, August, September, and; winter: October, November,December, January, and February). The dust fall results were expressedas t/km2 per month.
2.2.2. Sample collection for elemental and mineralogical studyWooden trays coveredwith stainless steel plates (0.6×0.4m,height 0.1
m) were placed at 15 different sampling spots for mineralogical study Thewooden trays were kept at roof tops of selected buildings (5 m height).Therewere 05different sampling spots in commercial, residential, and con-trol sites. After the sampling period, dust particles werewiped off from theplates with a camel hair brush, and were collected in polyethylene con-tainers. Dust samples were collected for a period of 15 days for all thethree seasons. Sampleswere collected from 1st January 2011 to 15 January2011 forwinter season, 12thMay 2011 to 26thMay 2011 for summer sea-son, and from 20 June 2011 to 05 July 2011 for monsoon season.
2.3. Sample analysis
The heavy metal content in the dust samples were analysed in trip-licate. Heavymetals from the dustswere extracted usingUSEPAmethod3051A (USEPA, 2007) in a microwave system (Milestone, Italy) andanalysed through ICP-OES (ICAP 6300 Duo, Thermo Fisher Scientific).A portion (0.25 g) of each of oven dried dust sample was weighed andtransferred into the Teflon vessel containingHNO3 andHCl acidmixture(3:1), and digested at approximately 200 °C for about 20min in amicro-wave digestion system (Milestone, Italy). After digestion, 10ml ofMilliQwater was added, the resulting mixture was filtered throughWhatmanno. 42 filter paper and the solution was transferred to a 25-ml volumet-ric flask and diluted to the mark. Determination of As was carried outusing ICP-OESwith anonlinehydride accessories. All the other elementswere measured using the normal cyclonic spray chamber and concen-tric nebulizer connected by tygon tubings. Commercially available ICPmulti-element standard solutions (Merck) were used for developmentof calibration curves. All the glassware and plastic vessels were treatedby dilute (1:1) nitric acid for 24 h and then rinsedwithMilliQwater be-fore use. Quality control measures included use of laboratory reagentblanks, and the analysis of the loamy sand soil reference materialsCRM024-05 (RTC, Laramie, WY). After every tenth sample during anal-ysis, the calibration standards were analyzed to check the analysisaccuracy. The recovery percentage ofmetal concentrations from the ref-erence material was between 93.2% and 113.5%. The reagent blank wasalso spiked with all the standards and the recovery percentage was be-tween 97.3% and 105.2%.
XRD patterns were recorded at room temperature on a D8ADVANCE (BRUKER AXS, Germany) diffractometer using CuKα radi-ation with parallel beam (Gobel Mirror). The samples were groundto fine powder prior to measurement. The scans are recorded inthe 2θ range between 10 and 75° using step size of 0.02° and scanspeed of 2 s/step. Peaks were identified by search match techniqueusing DIFFRACplus software (BRUKER AXS, Germany) with referenceto the JCPDS database. For SEM analysis the powdered samples werefixed on an adhesive tape and coated with gold. The morphologicalproperties of the dust were determined by scanning electron mi-croscopy (JSM-6390LV), at the Sophisticated Test and Instrumenta-tion Centre, Cochin University, India.
oalmining area, J. Geochem. Explor. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
3T.K. Rout et al. / Journal of Geochemical Exploration xxx (2014) xxx–xxx
Please cite this article as: Rout, T.K., et al., Dust fall and elementalflux in a coalmining area, J. Geochem. Explor. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gexplo.2014.04.003
5T.K. Rout et al. / Journal of Geochemical Exploration xxx (2014) xxx–xxx
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Monthly and seasonal variation in dust fall
Table 1 summarizes the average monthly variation in the dust fallduring October 2010 to September 2011. The monthly dust fall rangedfrom 3.54 to 30.0 t/km2 per month for the commercial site; 2.64 to26.6 t/km2 per month for the residential site and 1.49 to 6.82 t/km2
per month for the control site. The yearly average dust fall was higherfor the commercial site (15.5 t/km2 per month), followed by the resi-dential site (10.7 t/km2 per month), and the control site (3.82 t/km2
per month).These values were significantly lower than that of Binaopencast coal mining area, India (32.87–278.9 t/km2 per month) andJharia Coal Field (9.85 to 24.01 t/km2 per month) (Pandey et al., 2008;Ghose and Majee, 2003). The yearly average dust fall observed in thecommercial and residential site has exceeded the permissible limit of10 t/km2 permonth (Ghose andMajee, 2003). Higher dust fall observedin the commercial and residential sites may be due to the emission ofdust from the coal handling plant, operations like crushing, conveying,loading and unloading of the coal. Ghose (2004) reported that thetotal dust emission from an opencast coal mine is 9343.2 kg/day. In an-other study, the quantity of dust load in mine roads of four differentopencast coal mines varied from 38.7 to 124.5 t/km2 (Chaulya et al.,2011). The potential dust sources in the present study area are drillingand blasting; loading and unloading of coal and overburden;movementof heavy vehicles on haul roads; dragline operations; crushing of coal infeeder breakers; wind erosion; presence of fire; and exhaust of heavyearth mover machinery (Ghose and Majee, 2007). In open-cut coalmines the initial operation is the removal of topsoil, overburden andinter burden by mobile excavation equipment such as bulldozers,front-end loaders, drag lines and haulage trucks. Stripped material isrelocated to emplacement areas. Soil disturbance due to extraction,loading, transport and dumping has also the potential to cause dust(NSW, 2010).
The least amount of dust recorded in the control site may be due tothe fact that the area is away frommining activities and covered bymod-erate natural vegetation and agriculture fields. Dust deposition rates de-pend mainly on the rate of dust supply from different sources, rainfalland air turbulence, and climatic conditions in the source and depositionarea (Pandey et al., 2008; Recheis and Kihil, 1995; Ziomas et al., 1995).
Monthly dust fall was highest inMay (30 t/km2) and the lowest dustfall was in the month of August (3.54 t/km2). Dust fall was higher insummer season and lowest in monsoon (Table 2). An intermediatepattern of dust fall was observed in winter season for all three sites.For instance, in the commercial area, the average summer dust fallwas 27.1 t/km2 per month and it ranged from 23.9 – 30.0 t/km2 permonth in summer. In commercial site, the lowest dust fall occurred inrainy season (3.54 - 7.43 t/km2 per month), having average value of5.28 t/km2 per month. High rate of dust fall in summer season is dueto the high wind velocity and atmospheric turbulence, low humidityalong with surface erosion from coal stock piles and dust re-suspension due to prolonged high winds. In a coal mine area, Ghose
Table 2Seasonal variations of dust fall in the Jharia coal mining area.
Please cite this article as: Rout, T.K., et al., Dust fall and elementalflux in a cj.gexplo.2014.04.003
and Majee (2007) found that the total suspended particles (TSP) atalmost all the sampling locations exceeded the permissible limits spec-ified by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), especially during win-ter, summer and post monsoon periods. During the monsoon period,TSP concentration was found to be within the permissible limit due tothe removal of dust particles with rainwater. The low dust fall in therainy season is due to the washout of dust by heavy rain with Brownianand turbulent shear diffusion, inertial impaction, diffusiophoresis,thermophoresis and electric charge effects (Chate and Pranesha,2004). Intermediate dust emission in winter season is attributed to cli-matic inversions and constantly changing wind direction (Lyons andScott, 1990). Dust generation from coal mines may increase when thetop soil or coal seams are extracted during dry and windy weather con-ditions (NSW, 2010).
3.2. Fluxes of element
In general, the average annual concentrations of As, Cd, Co, Cr, Ni,and Sr were higher in the dust samples from the residential area. Simi-larly, the amounts of Cu, Pb and Zn were higher in the commercial area.Seasonal variations were significant for all the elements except Cd, Cu,V, and Zn. Elements that are higher in concentration in winter are As,Co, Cr, Ni, and Sr. It is common that the heavymetal contents are higherin winter (Moja and Mnisi, 2013).
Mean As content (Table 3) was higher in the residential area(4.43 mg/kg) than at the commercial site (3.20 mg/kg). The higherconcentration of As in the residential area is probably due to the coalburning for domestic use. Arsenic being volatile is released into the at-mosphere during coal burning and settles down by condensation onthe dust particles. Unlike arsenic, the Cd content in dust might nothave originated from coal, as its content in the Jharia coal is belowdetec-tion limit (Table 3). The higher Cd concentration observed in the com-mercial and residential zone, especially in the monsoon period isprobably due to vehicular emissions. Wear and tear as well as burningof vehicle tyres is some of the anthropogenic sources of Cd in streetdust (Tamrakar and Shakya, 2011). Cadmium is a rare heavy metalthat occurs naturally in combination with Zn. The annual averagecontent of Znwas higher in the commercial site (344.0 mg/kg) followedby the control site (237.0 mg/kg) and the residential site (162.0 mg/kg).A very high level of Zn found in dusts of commercial site may be fromthe traffic emissions; both tyre treads and tyre dust contain significantamounts of Zn (Apeagyei et al., 2011).
Mean Co content (Table 3) was higher in the residential area(17.6 mg/kg) followed by the commercial (14.9 mg/kg) and the controlsite (11.3 mg/kg). The annual average of Crwas higher in the residentialsite (53.6 mg/kg) followed by the commercial (42.3 mg/kg) and thecontrol site (27.1 mg/kg). Historically, coal combustion has been oneof the main sources of Cr, but its exact emission profile depends onthe type of coal burnt (Charlesworth et al., 2011). The average contentof Cr in Indian coal is as high as 70.0 mg/kg (Narsimhan andMukherjee, 1999). Thus, the chromium content in Jharia dust samplescould have originated from coal.
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Cu content was almost double in the study site as compared to thecontrol, further the Cu content in the local coal was also quite high(111 mg/kg). This points to the coal based origin of Cu in the dusts.The Ni in residential site (45.3 mg/kg) was about 2–3 times higher
Fig. 2. Estimated fluxes of elements through f
Please cite this article as: Rout, T.K., et al., Dust fall and elementalflux in a cj.gexplo.2014.04.003
than the other sites. The burning of fossil fuels as well as the refiningof metals such as copper introduces considerable amounts of nickelinto the atmosphere (Lee et al., 2005). The annual average content ofPb was highest (Table 3) in the commercial site (70.6 mg/kg) followed
alling dust in the Jharia coal mining area.
oalmining area, J. Geochem. Explor. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
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by the residential site (49.8 mg/kg).) and the control (46.1 mg/kg).Though lead free petrol is used in vehicles in India, even then its exis-tence is likely in urban environment due to the low solubility of pre-existing Pb that allows a long residence time in the soil and dust(Yuen et al., 2012). The Pb stored in the soil column is mobilized tothe urban environment by erosion process and human disturbanceswhich may be a cause of Pb enrichment in Jharia especially in summerseason. The annual average content of Sr follows the order: residential(80.1 mg/kg) N commercial (71.4 mg/kg) N control site (59.6 mg/kg).The annual average content of V was higher in residential site(54.5 mg/kg) followed by commercial (48.4 mg/kg) and control site(43.7 mg/kg).
The average content of the potentially toxic elements in the dustwasmultiplied by the total dust fall to get the elemental fluxes (Fig. 2). Ingeneral, the elemental fall was higher in summer followed by winterand monsoon. The flux was higher in the commercial site followed bythe residential site and the control site for most of the potentiallytoxic elements. Overall, in the Jharia mining area the fall was higherfor Zn followed by Pb N Sr N Cu N V N Cr N Ni N Co. The mean atmo-spheric fall of Zn in the commercial site is almost 10 times more thanthe residential and control sites. Heavy metals in dust originate fromdifferent anthropogenic activities. For example in an industrial city(Loudi) in China; Fe, Co, and Mo from the Fe-smelting plant; Cuand Ni from vehicle traffic; Pb, Zn and Cd from both above anthropo-genic sources; Cr, Ni and Be from other anthropogenic activities(Zhang et al., 2012). Season has significant effect on the elementalfall, for instance, the element with higher fall rates in summer areZn N Pb N Sr N V; winter: Zn N Sr N Cr N Cu; and monsoon: Zn N Sr NV N Pb. Arsenic deposition was higher in summer than winter ormonsoon, such seasonal variations were much pronounced in thecommercial and residential site than control. Cd, Co, Cr, Sr, and V de-positions were higher in the commercial site than the residentialsite, with higher deposition rates in summer. The flux of Pb was
Please cite this article as: Rout, T.K., et al., Dust fall and elementalflux in a cj.gexplo.2014.04.003
very high in summer, especially for the commercial site, probablydue to the higher traffic density in summer where the historic Pbfrom road side soils gets dispersed into the atmosphere. Seasonalvariation in Pb deposition was not significant in the control site. Zndeposition was higher in commercial sites with the maximumvalue during summer. The impact of summer season on metal depo-sition was much pronounced for Zn and Pb (Fig. 2) probably due totheir origin related with road traffic.
Contrary to all elements, Ni depositionwas higher for the residentialsite than the commercial site. The Ni content in dusts of the residentialsite (45.3 mg/kg) was about 2–3 times higher than the other sites. Coalburning introduces considerable amounts of Ni into the atmosphere(Lee et al., 2005). Coal burning for domestic cooking is very commonin the residential site.
In general, the elemental content in the dust samples were higher inwinter season. The seasonal variations were not significant (P b 0.05)for Cd, Cu, V, and Zn (Table 3). As, Co, Cr, Ni, and Srwere higher inwinterseason; Pb in summer; Cd inmonsoon. However, the elemental fall washigher in summer season due to the higher dust load in summer(Table 1, Fig. 2). For all the elements, the seasonal variations weremuchprominent in the commercial and residential site than the control.This may be directly correlated with the dust fall data. The seasonal in-fluences on dust fall were higher for the commercial/residential sitethan the control. The control site is quite calm throughout the year,however, in the mining sites, probably the mining intensities and asso-ciated traffic are much higher in summer season, leading to significantmetal deposition in summer. The elements deposited through the dustmay be the source of metal contamination to the local population aswell as nutrients for the terrestrial plants (Lawrence and Neff, 2009).For example, based on the elemental content and biomass estimatesfor a temperate forest (Schlesinger, 1997), a dust deposition at a rateof 10 g/m2/year (regional deposition) could supply 0.5–13%of the annu-al demand for plant nutrients. Regarding health effects of these
oalmining area, J. Geochem. Explor. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
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elements, the relative bioavailability and access (exposure) for uptakeby human receptors of each element of interest is important. Withinthe dust, many elements occur in multiple mineral associations, whichvary in their biological availability (Lawrence and Neff, 2009). Overlong timescales, the accumulation of insoluble elements in dust particlesmay affect the overall chemical composition of soils (Muhs andBenedict, 2006) and aquatic sediments (Neff et al., 2008).
3.3. Minerals in atmospheric falling dust
Atmospheric falling dusts have different particulatemorphology, andmineralogical composition according to their source of origin (Chen andXu, 2003; Gomez et al., 2004; Zhang et al., 2009). Atmospheric dust has acomplex mineralogical composition, depending on the deposition of at-mospheric aerosols that were coming from both natural and anthropo-genic sources. The major minerals in dusts from Jharia commercial sitewere quartz, kaolinite, pyrite, albite, and magnesiohornblende (Fig. 3).Except pyrite, all other minerals are silicate bearingminerals which con-firmed that there are inputs from surrounding soil (top soil, overburden
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Please cite this article as: Rout, T.K., et al., Dust fall and elementalflux in a cj.gexplo.2014.04.003
materials, etc.) to the atmospheric dust in the Jharia coal mining area.The EDS data also supports the predominance of Si (9.85–13.9 %) in thedust sample of the commercial site (Fig. 6). Generally a sizeable propor-tion of the quartz in coal occurs in the form of discrete coarse particles,whereas pyrite is commonly dispersed within the organic matter(Bandopadhyay, 2010). However, the presence of quartz in the dustsamples is observed in all the sites (Figs. 3–5), including control(Fig. 5). Presence of quartz in all the sites, as a major component revealsthat dusts are mainly from soil/earth crust origin. Quartz is a commonmineral in all soils. The health effects of quartz in dust is well document-ed, a Chinese study found nano-quartz particles in a bituminous coalseam and in the lungs of rural residents who were burning this coal intheir homes (Dai et al., 2008).
Like the commercial site, the dust sample from the residential sitealso has quartz, kaolinite, illite, pyrite, albite, and magnesiohornblende(Fig. 4). Kaolinite and illite are grouped under phyllosilicates and theirpresence in the Jharia residential area indicates the contribution oflocal soil and overburden materials (consisting of rock and soils). Themineralogical composition was supported by the EDS spectra (Fig. 7)
9T.K. Rout et al. / Journal of Geochemical Exploration xxx (2014) xxx–xxx
showing the presence of Si (10.7 %), followed by Al (7.63 %), and Fe(1.61 %). Pyrite and magnesiohornblende is supported by the presenceof Mg (0.79 %), K (0.73 %), and S (0.26 %). Pyrite is the most commonlyfound sulfide mineral in coal (Gluskoter et al., 1977).
In contrast to the coal mining areas (commercial and residentialsites), the control site did not have pyrite, but calcite was recorded(Fig. 5). Based on EDS spectra (Fig. 8) the Ca content in the samples is0.65%. Calcite abundance at both urban and peri-urban sites may be at-tributed to contamination of cement dust from construction activities orto soil dust rich in clay minerals.
3.4. Scanning electron microscopy analysis
Scanning electron microscopes with energy dispersive X-ray tech-niques are powerful tools to understand themorphology, elemental com-position and particle density of dust and to give a better insight about the
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Please cite this article as: Rout, T.K., et al., Dust fall and elementalflux in a cj.gexplo.2014.04.003
origin of the particles that whether emitted from anthropogenic or thenatural processes (Bernabe et al., 2005; Conner and Williams, 2004;Conner et al., 2001; Esbert et al., 1996; Petrovic et al., 2000; Pope, 2000).
Particulates detailed morphology and elemental composition canhelp in the understanding about their sources (Adachi and Tainosho,2004). Accordingly, settable dust samples were investigated by SEMand EDS analysis to distinguish their possible anthropogenic or naturalsources. Figs. 6, 7, 8 show the morphology and elemental compositionof dusts collected from commercial, residential and control sites, respec-tively, the images illustrate the diversity of dust particulate matter. Ac-cording to EDS analysis, the main composition of dust fromcommercial site is O N C N Si N Al N Na N Ca N Fe N K. The dust particlescollected from commercial site are flaky and layered, showing the pos-sibility of clay minerals. Further, the presence of clay mineral, kaolinitehas been identified in XRD(Fig. 3). Thedust particles in Khuzestanprov-ince (Iran)were of clays, sulfates or carbonates (Zarasvandi et al., 2011).The EDS composition and XRD reflects the dust in commercial site
Fig. 5. XRD of the dust sample collected from control site (Q: Quartz, O: Orthoclase, A: Albite, M: Magnesiohornblende, C: Calcite).
10 T.K. Rout et al. / Journal of Geochemical Exploration xxx (2014) xxx–xxx
might have originated from coal, rock fragments, road dust, soil, etc. TheSEM image of dusts from residential site showsmore of aggregated andflaky structures with chemical composition: O N C N Si N Al N Fe N
K N Mg N S. XRD analysis (Fig. 4) shows the presence of illite, kaolinite,pyrite, and magnesiohornblende. The flaky structures may be ofclay minerals and the aggregated ones are probably soot aggregatesand automobile exhaust particles (Zhao et al., 2010). The domesticuse of coal in the residential site might have contributed for thesesoot particles in the dust. In contrast to the residential site, thecontrol site has laminar particles rich in carbon (80 %), probably origi-nated from biomass burning in the agricultural fields of the controlsite. Soot from biomass burning has characteristic laminated sheetstructures (Zhao et al., 2010). The presence of plant nutrients like P, K,S, Ca, Mg, Fe, and Cl in this particle further supports their origin frombiomass. The elliptical shaped particle observed in Fig. 8, may be a pol-len grain.
Please cite this article as: Rout, T.K., et al., Dust fall and elementalflux in a cj.gexplo.2014.04.003
4. Conclusion
The yearly average dust fall was higher for commercial site(15.5 t/km2 per month) than the residential site (10.7 t/km2 permonth) of the Jharia coal mining area. Dust fall was highest inMay and the lowest in August. Summer season has more dustfall than winter and monsoon. Summer dust fall is about 5, 3, and2 times more than the monsoon dust fall in commercial, residential,and control sites, respectively. The elemental fall was higher for Znfollowed by Sr N Pb N Cu N V N Cr N Ni N Co N As N Cd. The meanatmospheric fall of Zn in commercial site is almost 10 times morethan the residential, and control sites. The major minerals in dustsfrom Jharia mining area were quartz, kaolinite, pyrite, albite, andmagnesiohornblende. In contrast to the coal mining areas (commercialand residential sites), the control site did not have pyrite, butcalcite was recorded. The SEM-EDS analysis showed the dust in
oalmining area, J. Geochem. Explor. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
Element %C 13.45O 65.8Na 3.92`Al 5.96Si 9.85Ca 1.05
Element %C 18.34O 65.7Al 1.31Si 13.9K 0.15Ca 0.5Fe 0.23
Fig. 6. Scanning electron microscopic photographs of the dust sample from commercial site.
11T.K. Rout et al. / Journal of Geochemical Exploration xxx (2014) xxx–xxx
commercial sites has contributions from coal and soil. In theresidential site, soot particles from domestic coal burning; and inthe control site, soot particles from biomass burning were observed inSEM.
Element %
C 35.2O 49.3
Mg 0.43Al 5.38Si 7.25S 0.15K 0.73Fe 1.61
Fig. 7. Scanning electron microscopic photograp
Please cite this article as: Rout, T.K., et al., Dust fall and elementalflux in a cj.gexplo.2014.04.003
Acknowledgement
Weexpress our thanks to theDirector of the CSIR-Central Institute ofMining and Fuel Research, Dhanbad, India, for providing support in
Element %C 15.8O 63.5
Mg 0.79Al 7.63Si 10.7S 0.26K 0.66Ti 0.24Fe 0.49
hs of the dust sample from residential site.
oalmining area, J. Geochem. Explor. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
Fig. 8. Scanning electron microscopic photographs of the dust sample from control site.
12 T.K. Rout et al. / Journal of Geochemical Exploration xxx (2014) xxx–xxx
publishing this study. The funding for this study provided through theNetwork Project NWP-0017 (11th Five Year Plan), Council of Scientificand Industrial Research (CSIR), Ministry of Science and Technology,Government of India, is greatly acknowledged.
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