A Ten-Year Biomonitoring Study of Atmospheric Deposition of Trace Elements at the Territory of the Republic of Belarus

For the third time since 2005 atmospheric deposition of trace elements in Belarus was monitored by the moss technique widely used in Europe for air pollution studies. Samples of moss species of Hylocomium splendens and Pleurozium schreberi were collected at 86 sites over the Gomel, Vitebsk and Minsk Regions in the summer of 2015. A total of 30 elements were determined by epithermal neutron activation analysis. Studying of the temporal trends in Belarus was undertaken with the results obtained in previous moss surveys in 2005/2006 and 2010/2011. Comparison with the analogous data from the neighbouring countries showed relatively low contamination levels in Belarus for the most heavy and toxic elements. The results of survey 2010/2011 showed that, except Cr, other element concentrations reduce or are at the same levels.