Sulphur and heavy metal concentrations in Scots pine bark in northern Finland and the Kola Peninsula

Sulphur and heavy metal deposition in northern Finland (= in Lapland) and the Kola Peninsula were surveyed using Scots pine bark samples. Sulphur concentrations in bark close to the Kola smelters were on an average twice as high as on the Finnish side of the border. The Cu and Ni concentrations near the smelters were almost 100-fold the mean values in northern Finland. There was a marked decrease in the sulphur and heavy metal concentrations with increasing distance from the emission sources. The effects of emissions from the Kola Peninsula were evident in Finland only close to the border, especially in the eastern parts of Inari (NE corner of Lapland) where the Cu and Ni concentrations were 2- to 6-fold those in western Lapland. The sulphur and heavy metal concentrations in most of northern Finland were low. However were the concentrations of Cr in bark in the SW corner of Lapland considerably high, due to the emissions from the Tornio refined steel plants.