Investigation of Lublin town environment contamination by radionuclides and heavy metals with application of Parmeliaceae lichens

Contamination uf ground level air at Lublin town was studied by measurement s of radioactive isotope and heavy metal contents in Parmeliaceae lichens e xposed during six months on the art-a of the town. The concentration of the elements studied was compared with these ones measured in unexposed (blank ) samples of lichens. The highest increase of radioactivity was noticed for Th-232, Ra-226 and K-40. The contamination bq Cs-137 does nut increased ma rkedly, ranging from 2 to 107 Bq/kg of the dry lichen sample. Nearly half o f the exposed samples do nut reveal any increase of cesium radioactivity. H eavy metal concentrations in analyzed lichens were low. From the results ob tained, one may conclude that concentration of these metals in ground air l evel does not reach appreciable values.