Issue 4, 2003

Environmental monitoring of historical change in arsenic deposition with tree bark pockets

Abstract

ICP-MS analysis recorded historical change (c.1846 to 2002) in the arsenic concentration of bark included within the trunks (tree bark pockets) of two Japanese oak trees (Quercus crispula), collected at an elevated location approximately 10 km from the Ashio copper mine and smelter, Japan. The arsenic concentration of the bark pockets was 0.016 ± 0.003 µg cm−2c.1846 (n = 5) and rose 50-fold from c.1875 to c.1925, from approximately 0.01 to 0.5 µg cm−2. The rise coincided with increased copper production in Ashio from local sulfide ores, from 46 tons per year in 1877 to 16,500 tons per year in 1929. Following a decline in arsenic concentration and copper production, in particular during the Second World War, a second peak was observed c.1970, corresponding to high levels of production from both local (6,000 tons per year) and imported (30,000 tons per year) ores, smelted from 1954. Compared to the local ores, the contribution of arsenic from imported ores appeared relatively low. Arsenic concentrations declined from c.1970 to the present following the closure of the mine in 1974 and smelter in 1989, recording 0.058 ± 0.040 µg cm−2 arsenic (n = 5) in surface bark collected in 2002. The coincident trends in arsenic concentration and copper production indicated that the bark pockets provided an effective record of historical change in atmospheric arsenic deposition.

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
15 Apr 2003
Accepted
25 Jun 2003
First published
04 Jul 2003

J. Environ. Monit., 2003,5, 671-674

Environmental monitoring of historical change in arsenic deposition with tree bark pockets

D. J. Bellis, K. Satake, K. Tsunoda and C. W. McLeod, J. Environ. Monit., 2003, 5, 671 DOI: 10.1039/B304162J

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