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Platinum group elements and rare earth elements in urban park soils in Novi Sad, Serbia
Manojlović, Maja
Angelone, Massimo
Vidojević, Dragana
Armiento, Giovanna
Čabilovski, Ranko
Ćirić, Vladimir
Montereali, Maria Rita
Crovato, Cinzia
De Cassan, Maurizio
The aim of this research was to study the behaviour of “new” pollutants released from car catalytic converters in selected top and bottom soils in two urban parks in Novi Sad. The study of the anthropic pollution by a geochemical multi-element approach could be a useful tool overall in urban areas characterized by a high environmental complexity. Different catalysts honeycomb display typical Platinum Group Elements (PGE) and Rare Earth Elements (REE) associations and concentration levels not common in soil and, at the end, in the “natural” environment. Characteristic fingerprint that they displayed permit us to evidence the presence of particles derived from car catalysts. In Serbia, car catalyst introduction is relatively recent respect to other European Countries. Therefore, the preliminary data show that, among PGE, Pt and Pd concentration levels are 0.89 and 0.85 ng/g respectively, resulting still lower or very close to the typical geochemical background for these elements in natural soils and rocks. Then, the presented data can be utilized as useful reference values to assess their accumulation trend in Serbian urban soils. Concerning REE that are usually contained in high percentages in the catalyst honeycomb and released with PGE via car fume, the average concentrations of light REE (LREE) result lower in Novi Sad top soils (ΣLREE 112 mg/kg) than in Rome (ΣLREE 427 mg/kg), where catalyst were introduced in the early 90s and soil parent material is mainly derived from volcanic rocks. However, the REE distribution patterns result very similar in both cities as well as the REE concentration levels. These preliminary data evidence that the urban environment is continuously exposed to new pollutants in relation to changes in anthropic activity. Environmental safeguard require useful and innovative tools to check and study the fate of these potential pollutants overall in relation to potential negative effect on population.
engleski
2021
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PGE, REE, park soils, pollution, Novi Sad, Serbia