| Abstract Title: | Influence of Coal Open-Pit Mining on Surrounding Air Quality in Southwestern Romania |
| Presenter Name: | Ms Adriana Dumitru |
| Co-authors: | Dr Alina Olaru Dr Marius Dumitru Prof Gabriela Iorga |
| Company/Organisation: | University of Bucharest, Faculty of Physics |
| Country: | Romania |
Abstract Information :
Mining activity in open-pit coal sites produces high airborne particulate matter that affects the surrounding environment and health of people living nearby by increasing ecosystems pollution and people risk developing adverse health effects. The aim of this study was to determine the level of airborne particulate matter induced by exploitation activities at a coal open-mine in a residential area close to the mine, in terms of mass concentrations and total carbon fractions (TC) of ambient PM10, PM2.5 and PM1 samples. Sampling campaigns were conducted during 10 successive days in April 2018, July and October 2019, January 2020 covered both working (full time, part-time) and non-working days at the coal exploitation. An additional field campaign in January 2019 was performed during a five successive days-strike, showing therefore the background PM10, PM2.5 and TC levels. The sampling was performed at 10 m over the ground for 12 hours per day using two low-volume samplers (substrate: quartz fiber filter) and an eight-stage low-pressure cascade impactor (size range 0.06-16 µm diameter; substrate: aluminum foil). Information on the morphology of particles and elemental composition of ambient sample was obtained by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis. The total mass concentration of particulate matter samples showed significant variation from full time working days to non-working days, the concentration of particulate matter in atmosphere reaching highest values in wintertime (January 2020). Elements of both crustal and anthropogenic origin C, O, Si, Ca, K, S, Cu, Ni, Fe, Mg, Ti were revealed by EDS analysis.
