VOLATILE METAL AND METALLOID SPECIES IN GASES FROM MUNICIPAL WASTE DEPOSITS

We have detected volatile species of silicon, vanadium, arsenic, bromi ne, tin, antimony, tellurium, iodine, mercury, lead and bismuth in gas es released from domestic waste deposits, using inductively coupled ar gon plasma mass spectrometry (ICP MS). By concurrent aspiration of a m ultielement standard solution for calibration, the element concentrati ons in deposit gas are found to be in the range from 0.1 ng m-3 to 10 mug m-3 gas. The global amount of some metal species emitted by this p rocess may be of the order of several tons per year. These results sug gest a biogeochemical pathway for the transfer of metals into the atmo sphere via volatile species. This process may have significant influen ce on atmospheric cycling of metals as well as on metal toxicity withi n ecosystems.