Manganese concentrations in the soil and air in the vicinity of a closed manganese alloy production plant.

In Montreal (Canada), the mean annual atmospheric Mn concentrations between 1981 and 1990 were stable, followed by a decrease of almost 50% from 1990 to 1992. The reason for such a decrease in Mn is probably the shutdown of a large manganese alloy production plant in Beauharnois, approximately 25 km from Montreal. The objective of this study is to assess the level of air and soil contamination by Mn in the vicinity of this ferroalloy plant more than 10 years after its closure. Air and soil were sampled over 5 days at two and three sites, respectively. Site 1 was located 10 m NE of the closed plant, in the direction of the prevailing SW-NE winds. Sites 2 and 3 were at 50 and 800 m SE from the plant. Air samples were collected in order to determine total (MnT) and respirable (MnR). Soil samples were taken in the surface and subsurface strata. The results show that site 1 is extremely polluted with a mean Mn concentration in surface strata of 2,66,000+/-45,000 ppm and 2,83,000+/-23,000 ppm in the subsurface strata, while the average MnT and MnR are 21.9+/-13.7 and 3.5+/-3.9 microg/m(3), respectively. The explanation for this contamination is direct deposition on the soil of solid Mn-rich residue and atmospheric erosion of Mn particles. The situation should be remediated by the public authority with high priority.