Paper reference | Sharif Arar, Afnan Al-Hunaiti, Mohanad H. Masad, AndronikiMaragkidou, Darren Wraith and Tareq Hussein (2019) Elemental Contamination in Indoor Floor Dust and Its Correlation with PAHs, Fungi, and Gram+/- Bacteria. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 3552; doi:10.3390/ijerph16193552. |
Abstract | In this study, we performed elemental analysis for floor dust samples collected in Jordanian microenvironments (dwellings and educational building). We performed intercorrelation and cluster analysis between the elemental, polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), and microorganism concentrations. In general, the educational building workshops had the highest elemental contamination. The age of the dwelling and its occupancy played a role on the elemental contamination level: older and more occupied dwellingshad greater contamination. The elemental contamination at a dwelling entrance was observed to be higher than in the living room. We found exceptionally high concentrations for Fe and Mn in the educational workshop and additionally, Hg, Cr, andPb concentrations exceeded the limits set by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment. According to the cluster analysis, we found three major groups based on location and contamination. According to the enrichment factor (EF) assessment, Al, Co, Mn, Ti, and Ba had EF < 2 (i.e., minimal enrichment) whereas P, S, Pb, Sb, Mo, Zn, Hg, and Cu had EF > 40 (i.e., extremely enriched). In contrast, Ca and P were geogenicallyenriched. Furthermore, significant Spearman correlations indicated nine subgroups of elemental contamination combined with PAHs and microbes. |