Analysis of Chemical Properties of Precipitating Particles in Ahvaz, Iran

Dust storms often occur in arid and semi-arid areas, which carry large amounts of particulate matter and accordingly are considered as one of the most important regional and international scales environmental issues; hence, understanding the origin of such dusts, and determining chemical properties and elements available in the particles in order to evaluate their impact on public health are of great importance.
The current study was performed from 2011 to 2012 in Agricultural Research Center and Health School of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Iran. In the present study, different deposit-gauge samples were collected in the normal and dusty days. Then, the concentration of heavy metals and chemical composition of the collected particles were determined. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry) were used to determine the feature structure of the chemicals and identify metals in the particles.
The results showed that carbonates (calcite) and silicates (quartz), followed by dolomite, were the main components of mineral dust transferring from Western Middle East to Iran. It is evident that particles originated from North-East Saudi Arabia or areas inside Iraq on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the evaporate deposits mostly contain gypsum, while sulfur, titanium, manganese, and phosphorus are the most abundant elements.
Comparison of the concentration of compounds on the normal and dusty days showed that the concentration of particles was higher in dusty days, which may result from higher exposure of such particles to industrial zones and urban areas air pollutants. Hence, inhalation of such dusts is one of the most important life threatening factors to the residents of the Western and Southwestern Iran.