Agriculture particulate matter

A major source of particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and hydrocarbons is open burning of agricultural residue. Over 2.5 million metric tons of particulate matter per year are added to the atmosphere over the United States from burning rice, grass straw and stubble, wheat straw and stubble. 

Primary organics are emitted to the atmosphere by industrial sources (oil refineries, chemical plants, producers and users of solvents and plasticizers), vehicles (as a result of incomplete fuel combustion, oxygenated degradation products of lubricating oil, polymers from tires), and agricultural activities (use of pesticides). An exhaustive literature survey is beyond the scope of this section, but can be found in Air Quaiity Criteria for Particulate Matter many useful references are also available. 

Cells R, Cox L, Hermosin MC, Cornejo J (1996) Retention of metamitron by model and natural particulate matter. Intern J Environ Anal Chem 65 245-260 Chaney RL (1989) Toxic element accumulation in soils and crops protecting soil fertility and agricultural food chains. In Bar Yosef B, Barrow NJ, Goldschmid J (eds) Inorganic contaminants in the vadose zone Springer, Heidelberg, pp 140-159 Charlatchka R, Cambier P (2000) Influence of reducing conditions on solubility of trace metals in contaminated soils. Water, Air Soil PoUut 118 143-167 Chien SH, Clyton WR (1980) Application of Elovich equation to the kinetics of phosphate release and sorption in soils. Soil Sci Am J 44 265-268... 

For the following analyses, indicate whether radiochemical neutron activation analysis would be preferred to instrumental neutron activation analysis. If radiochemistry is indicated, briefly sketch the separation procedures to be used (a) the determination of ppm levels of Mo in flathead minnows, (b) the determination of the trace-element content of agricultural field-burning particulate matter, (c) the use of stable activable tracers to determine flow patterns in an ocean estuary, and (d) the determination of Dy in pine needles. 

Often, many simultaneously occurring pollutants or contaminants determine an environmental problem. In industry, agriculture, and households, products are often mixtures of many compounds. The process of production and consumption is accompanied by emissions and consequently by contamination. One example is the use of toxaphene in the past, a very complex mixture of polychlorinated camphenes, as a pesticide. Technical toxaphene consists of more than 175 individual compounds. A second example is industrial and domestic emissions resulting from the combustion of fossil fuels. The emissions contain both a mixture of gases (SO2, NOx, CO2, etc.) and airborne particulate matter which itself contains a broad range of heavy metals and also polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). 

Particulate matter (PM-10, PM-2.5) is made up of dust, smoke and soot. The source is wood burning, diesel and other fuels, industrial plants, agriculture (plowing, burning of fields), unpaved roads. Health effects include nose and throat irritation, lung damage, bronchitis, and early death. Environmental effect... 

Acute symptoms of injury from various pollutants in different horticultural and agronomic groups are visible on the affected plant. Symptom expressions produced include chlorosis, necrosis, abscission of plant parts, and effects on pigment systems. Major pollutants which produce these injuries include sulfur dioxide, peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN), fluorides, chlorides, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and particulate matter minor pollutants are ethylene, chlorine, ammonia, and hydrogen chloride. Symptoms of acute injury are often used to identify pollutant source and to estimate agricultural damage. 

Clymo, A.S., Shin, J.Y., and Holmen. B.A., 2005. Herbicide sorption to fine particulate matter suspended downwind of agricultural operations field and laboratory investigations. Environ. Sci. Technol., 39, pp. 421-430. 

Although the globally distributed DDT is a very well investigated xenobiotic regarding the environmental occurrence and behaviour, detailed information about the fate of DDT in the bound residues fraction is very limited. Already in 1977 Lichtenstein et al. (1977) reported the formation of bound 14C-labelled DDT on agricultural soil accompanied by a drastically reduced insecticidal activity of the associated proportion. Also recent studies confirmed the decrease of DDT toxicity with time after application to soils as a result of less bioavailibility due the incorporation into the non-extractable particulate matter (Robertson and Alexander 1998). For a better understanding of the processes leading to these observations more information is required about the incorporation of DDT residues into the non-extractable particulate matter not only of soils but also of particulate matter within the aquatic environment. 

A well known Elbe-specific compound is tetrabutyl tin, the parent substance for the synthesis of mono- to tributyl tin compounds widely used as antifoulants, stabilizers in poly(vinyl chloride)s (PVC) and industrial as well as agricultural biocides. The origin of tetrabutyl tin in sediments and suspended particulate matter of the Elbe river can be linked to an industrial point source situated near the confluence of the Mulde and the Elbe rivers (Wilken et al. 1994, Schwarzbauer, 1997). The occurence of tetrabutyl tin not only at sample sites mainly influenced by the Elbe river (sample sites A,B and C), but also in sediments situated farer from the Elbe estuary (sample sites E,F) indicates a wide spatial distribution of Elbe-derived organic matter in the German Bight. 

Aquatic particulate matter is an important sink for numerous lipophilic anthropogenic contaminants as the result of adsorption and accumulation processes. In the adsorbed state organic contaminants can be subject to transformation as well as to transportation processes within the river system. The anthropogenic contribution to the organic load of river systems can be attributed mainly to sewage effluents derived from industrial and domestic point sources, to agricultural emissions or to shipping activities. Numerous specific compounds reflect the different sources of pollution and, therefore, are frequently detected in river systems. 

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