TRACE-ELEMENTS IN VEGETABLES GROWN IN AN INDUSTRIAL-AREA IN RELATION TO SOIL AND AIR PARTICULATE MATTER

The relationships between the trace element content of vegetables, agr icultural soil and airborne particulate matter were investigated in th e greater industrial area of Thessaloniki, northern Greece. Most eleme nts were found at concentrations normally observed in vegetables grown in uncontaminated areas, however, elevated concentrations of Pb, Zn, Cr and Mn were found particularly in leafy vegetables. The trace eleme nt content of agricultural soil was low, despite the airborne particul ate matter that was highly enriched with Zn, Cd, Pb and Mn. Multivaria te statistical analysis indicated that the compositional patterns of t he vegetables, the soil and the atmospheric particulates were largely different. The dominant pathway for most trace elements to vegetable r oots was from the soil, while trace elements in vegetable leaves appea red to originate mostly from the atmosphere. High accumulation due to atmospheric deposition was found for Pb, Cr and Cd, especially in leaf y vegetables. Root vegetables were found to accumulate soil Cd move ef ficiently than the other trace elements. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd .