An investigation on airborne particulate radioactivity, heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons composition in Calabrian selected sites, Southern Italy

This study aims to evaluate the concentration of radionuclides, heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in airborne particulate matter (PM) with a diameter lower than 10 μm (PM10), with concentrations in air lower than 100 μ/m3, deposited on quartz microfiber filters and collected in four selected Calabrian sites of southern Italy during the monitoring campaign performed in 2015-2016. In particular, 137Cs, 7Be and 210Pb activity concentrations were measured through a positive biased high purity germanium (HPGe) gamma spectrometer; data on the contents of airborne particulate heavy metals As, Cd, Ni and Pb, were obtained through inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) measurements after acid extraction with microwaves and filtration; the benzo[a]pyrene concentration was quantified with a gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) after chemical extraction, purification and concentration.