TRACE-ELEMENTS IN ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATION AT NORWEGIAN BACKGROUND STATIONS (1989-1990) MEASURED BY ICP-MS

ICP-MS has been used to study 27 trace elements in precipitation at si x rural and remote sites in Norway. The work is based on weekly sample s from 1989 and 1990. Element enrichment factors, based on crustal Fe, are in the order: Cd>Sb>As>Pb>Bi>Zn>Mo>Tl>Na>Cu>Be>Ni>Mg>V> U>Ga>Li>L a>Sr>Cr>Mn>Rb>Ba>Th>Co>Y. The highest concentrations of elements assoc iated with anthropogenic activities occur in northeastern Norway (Cu, Ni, Co, As) and in the southern part of the country (V, Pb, Ni, Cu, Zn , As, Mo, Cd, Sb). This is attributed to industrial activities at the Kola peninsula, Russia, and to long-range atmospheric transport from m ore densely populated and heavily industrialized regions in Europe. Pr ecipitation falling over southern Norway during a single 48 h event re sulted in a wet deposition of 10-20% of the annual wet deposition of m ost elements measured. Studies of back trajectories from this period i ndicate that the air masses might have passed Sahara and great parts o f Central Europe before reaching Norway. Comparison of the precipitati on data from Birkenes, South Norway, with data for air particles at th e same sample station show that the precipitation has much higher rati os to Fe for the sea-salt elements than the aerosol has, whereas the a nthropogenic elements exhibit ratios to Fe that are comparable with th ose in the fine aerosol fraction.