CHARACTERISTICS OF FINE AND COARSE PARTICLES OF NATURAL AND URBAN AEROSOLS OF BRAZIL

Fine and coarse particles have been sampled from 1982 to 1985 in one natural forest seacoast site (Jureia) and five urban-industrial cities (Vitoria, Salvador, Porto Alegre, Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte). The time variations of concentrations in air and the relative elemental compositions of fine and coarse particle fractions, sampled by Nuclepore stacked filter units (SFU), have been determined gravimetrically and by PIXE analysis, respectively. Enrichment factors and correlation coefficients of the trace elements measured led to unambiguous characterization of soil dust and sea salt, both major aerosol sources that emit coarse particles, and soil dust is also a significant source of fine particles.