EVALUATION OF REGIONAL HEAVY-METAL DEPOSITION BY MULTIVARIATE-ANALYSIS OF ELEMENT CONTENTS IN PINE TREE BARKS

The airborne immission of heavy metals in the conservation area ''Dube ner Heide'' nearby Bitterfeld was evaluated by biomonitoring studies w ith bark samples of 60-years-old scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.). Nit ric acid digestion and hydrochloric acid extraction of bark was follow ed by ICP-AES and ICP-MS analysis of the elements Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn. Fe and especially Cr were only partly soluble in hy drochloric acid. These elements deposited mostly as insoluble oxides, and their contents in the bark correlate significantly with Ca and S a s elements of alkaline and acid deposition. Factor and cluster analysi s of all element contents are used for the characterization and evalua tion of heavy metal deposition types, which is shown to be a useful to ol in forest monitoring control.