• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.1171-1175
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• 2006

Deposited road particles (DRPs) were analysed for heavy metal concentrations at four different roads in a city, Korea. The samples were collected using a roadway surface vacuum cleaning vehicle which was commonly used in collecting roadway surface particles. Six particle size ranges were analyzed separately for twelve heavy metal elements (Cd, Cr, Pb, Ni, Al, As, Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn and Hg). At all sampling sites, the high concentration of the heavy metals occurred in the <74um particle size range, which conventional roadway cleaning vehicles do not remove efficiently. The Pb concentration significantly increased with decreasing particle size of DRPs, and other toxic heavy metals (Cd, Cr and Ni) also showed similar results. The heavy metal concentrations in the smaller size fraction of DRPs is important because they are contaminants that are preferentially transported by road runoff during rainfall.