ACTIVE BIOMONITORING OF ATMOSPHERIC ELEMENT DEPOSITION USING EVERNIA MESOMORPHA IN TANGSHAN, CHINA

Tangshan is a typical heavy industrial city in North China. Evernia mesomorpha ( EV ) from a remote site was exposed at the non -industrial and industrial sites of Tangshan in the winter heating period of 2016-2017 for 4 months. Concentration of 50 elements in the samples before and after exposure was measured using ICP (Inductively Coupled Plasma). The results show that exposure concentrations of the 49 elements are significantly higher than the background concentrations, coinciding with the fact that the exposure area had higher pollutant contents than the background area. The results show that exposure concentrations are significantly higher than the background concentrations which had a low variability, confirming the applicability of this lichen in active biomonitoring of atmospheric deposition of 49 elements in China. The elements are classified into crustal (Ag, Al, As, Cs, K, P, Rb, Si, Th, U, Sc, and 15 Lanthanides), atmospheric -crustal (Be, Bi, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ge, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, Nb, Ni, Pb, Sb, Se, Sn, Sr, Ti, Tl, and V), and atmospheric groups (S and Zn). PLI site and PLI zone often reveal one class of bioaccumulation higher at industrial sites than at non -industrial sites, regardless of element sources. After taking all groups together, the bioaccumulation is evaluated as heavy and moderate at the industrial and non -industrial sites, respectively. The bioaccumulation is the highest for the atmospheric elements (heavy to severe) and the lowest for the crustal elements (low to moderate). These results indicate that EV is a good biomonitor for all elements except P. Air quality of Tangshan in winter heating period is a concern due to industrial, transport and coal combustion emissions.