Research Article Open Access Volume 4 • Issue 6 • 1000234 J Environ Anal Toxicol ISSN: 2161-0525 JEAT, an open access journal Open Access Research Article Raja, J Environ Anal Toxicol 2014, 4:6 DOI: 10.4172/2161-0525.1000234 *Corresponding author: Mohamed Raja, Research Unit: Applied Thermodynamics (UR11 ES 80), National Engineering School of Gabes, Omar Ibn El Khattab Street 6029 Gabès, Gabès University, Tunisia, Tel: 216- 96633980; E-mail: raja.raja200999@yahoo.com Received May 12, 2014; Accepted July 28, 2014; Published July 31, 2014 Citation: Raja M, Dalila T, Ammar BB (2014) Chemical and Mineralogy Characteristics of Dust Collected Near the Phosphate Mining Basin of Gafsa (South-Western of Tunisia). J Environ Anal Toxicol 4: 234. doi: 10.4172/2161-0525.1000234 Copyright: © 2014 Raja M, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Chemical and Mineralogy Characteristics of Dust Collected Near the Phosphate Mining Basin of Gafsa (South-Western of Tunisia) Mohamed Raja*, Taieb Dalila and Ben Brahim Ammar Research Unit: Applied Thermodynamics (UR11 ES 80), National Engineering School of Gabes, Gabès University, Tunisia Keywords: Dust; Mining pollution; Metals; Mineralogy; Mining basin; Gafsa. Introduction Air pollution is a major problem nowadays. Exposure to ambient air pollution has been associated to several health outcomes, starting from modest transient changes in the respiratory tract and impaired pulmonary function, continuing to restricted activity, emergency room visits and hospital admissions and to mortality [1]. According the World Health Organisation (WHO), 4-8% of deaths occurring annually in the world are related to air pollution [2]. In recent decades, there has been a growing concern for the potential contribution of dust as one of major sources of atmospheric pollution. Te interest in atmospheric particulate matter (PM) is mainly due to its efect on health and its role in climate change [3]. Dust can also afect biogeochemical cycling and air temperature because of the absorption and scattering of solar radiation and can infuence sulphur dioxide levels in the atmosphere [4]. Fine particles in the air are most efcient in scattering light because they are similar in size to wavelength of visible light and have the largest surface area, so reducing visibility [5]. In daily life, dust presence in atmosphere dramatically reduces air quality leading to consequences such as respiratory and allergy diseases and aggravation in people sufering from heart diseases. Moreover, metals present in dust can accumulate in human body via directly inhalation, ingestion and dermal contact resulting in serious health problems [6]. In addition, the particulate material or its soluble components may be transported to organs some distance from the lungs and have a detrimental efect on these organs [7]. A large variety of dust is found in the atmosphere which originates from a variety of sources. Dust can have natural or anthropogenic origins. Maximal concentrations of PM 10 are found in mining area and the concentrations are gradually diminished with increase in distance due to transportation, deposition and dispersion of particles [8]. Currently, the knowledge of the chemical composition of particulate matter (PM) has gathered increasing importance in the scientifc community as the necessity to diferentiate PM components and their infuence to both health efects and role in the climate change [9]. Also, research on the physic-chemistry properties of particulate matter is intense and toxicological studies attempt to identify which adverse biological responses (e.g. particle number, size, surface, chemical composition), and suggest that the chemical composition of PM (which refects diferences in source contributions) plays an important role in these responses [9]. In this framework, this study presents a comparative analysis of particulate matter at three sites located in Gafsa and identifed minerals and trace metals, ionic components, and carbonaceous material. Te Study Area Geology Gafsa is the capital of Gafsa Governorate of Tunisia. It lies 369 Km by road southwest of Tunis. Te geographical coordinates of the city are 34°25 ’ N8°47 ’ E. It is located in one perforated in the middle of an alignment mountainous, called “mounts of Gafsa “ between DjbelBou- Ramli and DjbelOrbata which culminates to 1165 meters. Te governorate of Gafsa is composed of diferent towns such as: El Guettar, El Kaser, Gafsa, Mdhila, Métlaoui, Moularès, Rdyef and Sned. Te city has 90.000 inhabitants (2005 estimate), the governorate has 340.000 inhabitants (20005 estimate) and an area of 8990 Km 2 . Mining basin of Gafsa is a part of the south-western dry area of Abstract The study aimed at chemical and mineralogical characterization of whole particulate matter (PM) in the vicinity of a mining phosphate basin at urban area in Gafsa. Heavy metals concentrations in PM samples (Cd, Fe, Cu, Mn, Cr, Zn, Ni, Al, Pb), MgO and SiO 2 were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry. Calcium and phosphorus oxides (CaO, P 2 O 5 ) were analyzed by Technicon Auto-analyzer. Potassium and sodium oxides (K 2 O, Na 2 O) were analyzed by fame photometer. Ionic species (S0 4 2- , Cl - , NO 3 - ) were quantifed by ion chromatography while organic carbon (OC) content was determined using carbon sulfur Analyzer. The mineral phase identifed by X-Ray powder diffraction technique and SEM-EDX provides information about morphology and chemical composition of PM. As regards the chemical characterization it was found that samples were enriched predominantly in SiO 2 , CaO and P 2 O 5 which were detected only at mining area (S2 and S3) Weak concentrations of K 2 O, Na 2 O and MgO were also found. In addition the minerals phases identifed in the samples were carbonate fuorapatite, Calcite, Heulandite, Gypsum and Dolomite. The values of ionic composition were in the fowing order SO 4 2 ->Cl->NO 3 - . Results also showed that heavy metals pollution increased by the proximity to the mining area. SEM-EDX revealed that particles are almost spherical. Journal of Environmental & Analytical Toxicology J o u r n a l o f E n v i r o n m e n t a l & A n a l y t i c a l T o x i c o l o g y ISSN: 2161-0525