Antimony as a tracer of the anthropogenic influence on soils and estuarinesediments

The aim of this work was to evaluate antimony (Sb) as a potentially valuabl e tracer of the anthropogenic impact on soils and estuarine sediments. Anti mony was determined in fifteen roadsoils from a medium-size city, La Coruna (NW of Spain); and twelve sediments from two estuaries (La Coruna and Ares -Betanzos). Sb determination was accomplished in a rapid and reliable way b y directly measuring the solid samples with an automatic ultrasonic slurry sampling-ETAAS device. Soil contents ranged from 0.29 to 8.81 mug g(-1). A relation between Sb concentration and motor vehicle intensity was observed. Regarding estuarine sediments, Sb amounted from 0.22 to 1.51 mug g(-1), fo r the La Coruna estuary and 0.24 to 0.71 mug g(-1), for the Ares-Betanzos e stuary; higher Sb values were found for coastal locations whereas lower con tents corresponded to 'inner' samples. In order to confirm these findings, other pollutants were studied: As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn, aliphatic hy drocarbons (AH) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). These values, a long with the Sb ones, were subjected to multivariate studies intended to e lucidate whether Sb correlated (and to what extent) to other well-known ant hropogenic pollutants. Thus, Sb became associated to Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn in r oad soils and to As, Cu, Zn, PAH, Pb and unresolved hydrocarbons, in sedime nts.