Sources of atmospheric pollutants in the North West province of South Africa: A case of the Rustenburg municipality

Abstract

A number of activities are known to generate substantial quantities of atmospheric pollutants in the form of uncontrolled emissions. Such sources include mineral extraction and stockpiling, landfill sites, materials handling operations and long term construction operations. In this study, the composition of air particulate matter was determined using Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with Energy Dispersive Spectrometry (SEM/EDS) and the following elements were identified: Si, Fe, Al, Ca, Mg, K, Na, Ti, Cr, C, Cl, S, F, P, V, Pb, Ni and O. Correlation and regression analysis, together with Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were used to determine the sources of atmospheric pollutants; the sources were identified in order of decreasing abundance as: soil dust, industry, biomass burning, and traffic.