Geographic Classification of Heavy Metal Concentrations in Mosses and Stream Sediments in the Federal Republic of Germany

Berlekamp, Jürgen; Herpin, Uwe; Matthies, Michael; Lieth, Helmut; Markert, Bernd; Weckert, Vera; Wolterbeek, H. Th.; Verburg, Tona; Zinner, Hans-Jürgen; Siewers, Ulrich

Geographic Classification of Heavy Metal Concentrations in Mosses and Stream Sediments in the Federal Republic of Germany

1998

The results of the first German moss monitoring programme to estimate heavy metal pollution in the Federal Republic of Germany were combined with other large-scale investigations carried out in Germany and then classified geographically in a new form. Using Monte Carlo assisted factor analysis, six factors indicating sources of pollution were identified from the sets of element data from the moss monitoring project (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, Ti, V, Zn) and the data sets for SO₂ and particulate. The geographic distribution patterns of the factor values showed the regions in which the various sources are to be found. By combining the data the primarily anthropogenic chromium concentrations of the mosses were compared with the mainly geogenic chromium concentrations of the stream sediments in the form of examples. After normalization, the transformed chromium concentrations were transferred to a map of the entire area using inverse distance weighting. Anthropogenic and geogenic influences are being discussed on the basis of the results.

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