THE CHEMICAL AND MINERALOGICAL COMPOSITION OF SOME URBAN ATMOSPHERIC AEROSOLS IN ISRAEL

Atmospheric aerosols were collected in Tel Aviv and Arad. Chemical and mineralogical analyses reveal: (1) higher levels of metallic contaminants, by factors of 2 to 4, in the early morning than later in the day in Tel Aviv; (2) occasional large contributions of sea salts to the ambient aerosol in Tel Aviv with possibly some influence of sea spray even as far inland as Arad; (3) more than 95% of the sulphate in Tel Aviv is of non-sea-salt origin but not all of this can be attributed to local sources. The results are discussed and compared with those obtained by other workers in Jerusalem and Beer Sheva. Unexplained high sulphate values appear to be common in this part of the Middle East and may be due to long-range transport. It is suggested that the amount of atmospheric sulphur trapped by a high-volume filter is limited by the amount of available calcium and magnesium.