Toxic trace elements and organic compounds in the ambient air of Kabu... https://www.sciencedirect.

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Atmospheric Environment
Volume 40, Issue 2, January 2006, Pages 225-237

Toxic trace elements and organic compounds in the ambient air of

Kabul, Afghanistan
Luigi Antonello Di Lella, Stefano Loppi, Giuseppe Protano, Francesco Riccobono

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Abstract

To assess the ambient air quality in Kabul, we measured the contents in tree bark samples of 17 chemical
elements by ICP–MS, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans (PCDD/Fs) by GC–MS, polychlorinated
biphenyls (PCBs) by GC–ECD and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by HPLC. While there were rather
high levels of sulfur (up to 2277 μg g−1), the heavy element contents were rather low (i.e. Pb was in the range
3.12–5.00 μg g−1), even though a slight peak value was recorded in the area of most intense traffic (Pb up to
13.91 μg g−1). Slight traces of organohalogen compounds, i.e. PCBs and PCDD/Fs, were detected
(ΣPCBs=1.184–6.318 ng g−1; ΣPCDD/Fs=1.42–2.38 pg g−1). Highly chlorinated congeners, i.e. OCDD/Fs and
penta-, hexa- and hepta-CBs, dominated the profiles of these compounds. Only three- and four-ringed PAH
compounds were detected, but at very low levels comparable with the natural background. The slightly
anomalous trace element values and the profiles of PCDD/Fs and PAHs determined in the bark samples
suggest a close relationship with emissions from automotive traffic and the domestic burning of wood and
fossil fuels. The presence of distinct but unimportant PCB emission sources can also be inferred.

Introduction

After the military coup that ended the monarchy in 1973, Afghanistan went through a restless period of war,
which culminated in the Taliban regime and the intervention of international forces following the terrorist
attack on New York's Twin Towers on 11 September 2001. In this long period, the capital Kabul experienced a
terrible sequence of violent events such as bombings, fires, dynamite attacks, etc., which could have
worsened the quality of the environment.

Countries that contributed soldiers to the ISAF mission are clearly interested in the possible effects of Kabul's

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Toxic trace elements and organic compounds in the ambient air of Kabu... https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1352231005009039

impaired living conditions on the health of both its troops and the resident population.

The present research was conducted, under the auspices of the Italian Ministry of Defense, to check the
quality of the environment in which Italian soldiers are still engaged (as part of the ISAF mission). Since the
food and drinking water provided to the troops usually come from the mother country, the air quality is
clearly a decisive factor.

Lichens and mosses are among the most commonly used organisms in biomonitoring studies (Bates and
Farmer, 1992). However, owing to their sensitivity to toxic substances that may be present in the air, they are
not present everywhere and are often absent in heavily polluted zones. In fact, despite a careful search, no
lichens were found in the urban area of the Afghan capital. The unsuccessful attempt to collect lichen
samples in Kabul could be related to the general environmental conditions, which appear unsuitable for
lichen growth due to a combination of factors such as the high elevation of the city (about 1800 m a.s.l.), the
dryness of the climate (<300 mm per year) and rather high atmospheric concentrations of SO2. In such cases,
the use of tree bark samples could be a valid alternative, as there is evidence that tree bark data can be
confidently compared with lichen data (Kuik and Wolterbeek, 1994; Pacheco et al., 2002).

In September 2002, eight sampling sites were chosen in Kabul and bark was collected from the city's
sporadic tree population (see Fig. 1). The bark samples were subsequently analyzed for the contents of toxic
heavy elements and dangerous organic pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs),
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans (PCDD/Fs).

Section snippets

Sampling and methods

The sampling sites were distributed along a 14 km transect crossing the city in a north–south direction,
approximately from the Kole Hashmat Khan wetlands (see Fig. 1) to Kabul International Airport. The central
part of the transect (samples K1, K6 and K7) coincides with the city center, where automotive traffic reaches
peak intensity.

At each sampling site, 5–10 bark flakes (8–10 cm in length, 2–3 cm in width and 0.2–0.5 cm thick) were cut
from trees at a height of 1.5 m above ground level. The…

Results and discussion

In the last few decades, the barks of various tree species have been widely employed in the biomonitoring of
airborne pollutants (Laakasovirta et al., 1976; Poikolainen, 1997; Douce et al., 1997; Loppi et al., 1997; Schulz
et al., 1999; Bellis et al., 2001). Coniferous trees appear particularly suitable owing to their peculiar
physiology (Bargagli, 1998). Laakasovirta et al. (1976) showed that lead contents in the bark of Pinus sylvestris
were more significantly correlated with traffic on a…

Conclusions

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Toxic trace elements and organic compounds in the ambient air of Kabu... https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1352231005009039

Assessment of the ambient air quality in Kabul, by means of tree bark analyses, revealed a very low impact of
the main organic and inorganic airborne pollutants. The data are consistent with a very lightly industrialized
urban environment lacking significant sources of pollutants, except for domestic fires and light automotive
traffic.

Moreover, the biomonitoring did not reveal any perceptible repercussions of the violent events occurring
during the long period of war. For example, there are…

Acknowledgments
Many thanks are due to the Italian Ministry of Defense, the General Staff of Defense, the Italian Joint
Operation HQ and the 7th Regt. NBC Defense “Cremona” for the support given to this research work. We also
warmly thank our friends and colleagues Fabio Baroni, Michela Mariottini, Guido Perra and Karla Pozo for
their invaluable help with the analytical work.…

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…Soxhlet extraction has historically been used to extract organic analytes from lichens including PAHs and other SVOCs
[30,43,67,82,169] (Table 7). The method has also been applied with success to the extraction of SVOCs from bark and pine
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Toxic trace elements and organic compounds in the ambient air of Kabu... https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1352231005009039

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…The higher concentrations of OCPs in the bark compared to moss are most probably related to the larger surface area of
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…The sum of these four PAHs accounted for ~ 80% of Σ16PAHs (Fig. 5). Phenanthrene, fluoranthene and pyrene were also
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