Variation of Stable Carbon and Nitrogen Isotopic Composition of PM sub(10) at Urban Sites of Indo Gangetic Plain (IGP) of India

• Published in: Bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology 2015-11, Vol.95 (5), p.661-669
• Main Authors: Sharma, S K, Mandal, T K, Shenoy, D M, Bardhan, Pratirupa, Srivastava, Manoj K, Chatterjee, A, Saxena, Mohit, Saraswati, Saraswati, Singh, B P, Ghosh, S K
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0007-4861; 1432-0800
• DOI: 10.1007/s00128-015-1660-z

This paper presents the variation of elemental concentrations of total carbon (TC), total nitrogen (TN) and isotopic ratios of delta super(13)C and delta super(15)N along with delta super(13)OC and OC of PM sub(10) mass over Delhi, Varanasi and Kolkata of the Indo Gangetic Plain (IGP), India. For Delhi, the average concentrations of TC and TN of PM sub(10) were 53.0 plus or minus 33.6 and 14.9 plus or minus 10.8 mu g m super(-3), whereas delta super(13)C and delta super(15)N of PM sub(10) were -25.5 plus or minus 0.5 and 9.6 plus or minus 2.8 ppt, respectively. For Varanasi, the average values of delta super(13)C and delta super(15)N of PM sub(10) were -25.4 plus or minus 0.8 and 6.8 plus or minus 2.4 ppt, respectively. For Kolkata, TC and TN values for PM sub(10) ranged from 9.1-98.2 to 1.4-25.9 mu g m super(-3), respectively with average values of 32.6 plus or minus 24.9 and 9.3 plus or minus 8.2 mu g m super(-3), respectively. The average concentrations of delta super(13)C and delta super(15)N were -26.0 plus or minus 0.4 and 7.4 plus or minus 2.7 ppt, respectively over Kolkata with ranges of -26.6 to -24.9 ppt and 2.8 plus or minus 11.5 ppt, respectively. The isotopic analysis revealed that biomass burning, vehicular emission and secondary inorganic aerosols were likely sources of PM sub(10) mass over IGP, India.