Assessment of the Altitudinal Atmospheric Metal(loid) Deposition in a Mountainous City by Mosses.

Samples of moss (Haplocladium microphyllum) were collected at different elevations on a mountain and four representative sites in Guiyang City, and the concentrations of metal(loid)s were determined by ICP-MS. The altitudinal deposition of soil-originated metals differed from that of anthropogenic metal(loid)s. The concentrations of soil-related elements decreased with elevation, indicating that these elements tend to deposit at lower elevations and their impact on the higher elevations is less. The concentrations of anthropogenic elements varied only slightly with elevation, indicating that the atmospheric deposition of these elements did not vary largely with elevation. The results of this study showed that the mosses at different locations may serve to indicate a vertical gradient of atmospheric metal(loid) deposition.