Short Historical Review of Contaminant Transfer Between Soil-Atmosphere Interface. Atmosphere Quality in the Porto Marghera (Venice Municipality, Italy) Industrial Area

Heavy metal and PAH soil pollution delivered by atmospheric depositions were monitored for 3 months near the Porto Marghera (Venice Municipality, Italy) industrial area (close to Venice City, northern Italy). The purpose was to develop a quick-exploratory testing protocol in order to preliminary assess the magnitude of pollution due to atmospheric depositions in view of further deeper monitoring campaigns. We did not distinguished between dry and wet atmospheric depositions and collected them altogether, so that all samples contained both. After sample filtration, the residues left on the filter were dissolved by acidic attack while the filtrates were aqueous phases. Both fractions were analyzed separately, but metals were analyzed in the aqueous phase only. Results were compared with literature data on compost. The contribution of atmospheric deposition to the overall soil pollution resulted to be negligible with respect to that of compost normally administered as a "safe" fertilizer. Large data variability, which mainly depended on meteoric conditions and emission typology, did not impair such conclusion. Amongst PAH, high molecular weight PAH was abundant. Fluoranthene and phenanthrene presence dominates in almost all stations. Phenanthrene, anthracene, and fluoranthene were the PAH most frequently and most abundantly detected. Among metals, Mn and especially Pb were present. Mn presence was relatively high in some samples coming from the Mestre area, while in the Porto Marghera industrial area, Pb presented very high values.