Determination of Trace Element Level in Some Lichens from Mount Ida (Çanakkale, Turkey) By ICP-MS

Abstract

Pollution effects are indeed many and wide-ranging. There is no doubt that excessive levels of pollution are causing a lot of damage to human and animal health, plants, trees including tropical rainforests, as well as the wider environment. Air pollution; density, shelf life and frequency can be defined as the presence of airborne substances that adversely affect the health of organisms and cause harm to the environment. Since the last fifty years, more developed countries have become more interested in air pollution problems. There are many pollutants in the air such as sulfur oxides (SOx), nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3), different types of particles, heavy metals and various types of volatile organic compounds. The primary source of air pollution is the consumption of fossil fuels to produce energy, various industrial operations and transportation activities. Lichens have been used as bioindicators in various atmospheric pollution assessments in several countries and Turkey. In this study four lichen species were collected from Bayramic and Ayvacık (Canakkale, Turkey) province in January 2018. Prepared sample is cold leached with nitric acid then digested in a hot water bath. After cooling a modified Aqua Regia solution of equal parts concentrated HCl, HNO3 and Deionized (DI) water are added to each sample to leach in a heating block of hot water bath. Sample is made up to volume with dilute HCl then filtered. Sample splits of 1g (VG101) can be analyzed. The concentrations of some trace metals were determined by Inductive Couple Plasm-Mass Spectrophotometry (ICP-MS). The accuracy of method was confirmed using standard reference material (SRM).

Keywords: Lichens, trace metals, Mount Ida, ICP-MS, SRM.