Rare earth elements and other metals in atmospheric particulate matter in the western part of the netherlands

Atmospheric particulate matter (APM) was collected in Delft, in the western part of the Netherlands, on micro-quartz glass fibre filters from July to September, 1997. The concentrations of rare earth elements (REE) and 9 other metals (Cd, Pb, Fe, V, Ti, Mg, Ca, Na and Al) in the APM were determined by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) and Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES). The total REE (Sigma REE) concentration, light-REE (LREE, including Sc, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm and Eu) concentration, and heavy-REE (HREE, including Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu and Y) concentrations were 0.22-33.0; 0.21-30.68; and 0.01-2.32 ng m(-)3, respectively. The ratio of LREE to HREE ranged from 6.37 to 33.58; the ratio of LREE to Sigma REE was 0.86-0.97, the average being 0.90; and the ratio of HREE to Sigma REE was 0.03-0.14, with an average of 0.1. The variation of the ratio of LREE to Sigma REE and HREE to Sigma REE was small. The La to Ce, and La to Sm ratios varied considerably i.e. 0.5-4.38 and 4.33-71.42 respectively. The variation in concentrations of REE and other metals observed was dependent upon the wind direction and consequently on prevailing meteorological conditions and anthropogenic activity.