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An assessment of the impact of construction work on fine particulate matter in the University of Jordan: A PIXE study
Author(s) -
Sa'adeh Hanan,
Aburugia Sara,
Chiari Massimo
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
x‐ray spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.447
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1097-4539
pISSN - 0049-8246
DOI - 10.1002/xrs.3105
Subject(s) - particulates , sampling (signal processing) , environmental chemistry , environmental science , aerosol , enrichment factor , soil test , chemistry , mineralogy , soil water , heavy metals , soil science , physics , organic chemistry , detector , optics
Aerosol sampling was carried out prior to and during an active construction work at the University of Jordan in Amman, Jordan. Elemental characterization for 60 PM 2.5 samples was performed by particle‐induced X‐ray emission (PIXE) technique at the LABEC laboratory of INFN in Florence, Italy. Twenty three elements (Na, Mg, Al, Si, P, S, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Br, Rb, Sr, Zr, Ba, and Pb) were detected, and their concentrations were assessed during three sampling periods, namely, “No Construction,” “Pouring Concrete,” and “Bleaching.” The results showed higher concentrations of soil‐related elements and lower concentrations of anthropogenic‐related elements during construction periods compared with their concentrations before construction. Soil‐related elements showed very low enrichment factor (EF) and high correlation coefficients during all sampling periods. Anthropogenic‐related elements were very much enriched and correlated only during the first sampling period “No Construction.”