| Abstract: | Three kinds of tundra plant samples including Dicranum angnstum(a type of boreal bryophyte) , PuccineUia phryganodes (a type of fringy p/ant),Salix polaris (a type of vascular plant) and surface soil were samples in 200 at Ny-Alesund of the Arctic.The levels of eight heavy metal elements (Hg, Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn, Ni, Fe and Mn) and three metal-like dements (As, Se, Sr) in the plant and soil samples of the areas within previous coal mining activities are significantly higher than those of other areas.The relative accumulation of these elements in these tundra plant samples is consistent with the one in the soft samples, especially in the areas affected by previous coal-mining activities.Thus, the pollution is apparently from local coal mining activity.Dicranum angustum has the highest concentrations among those elements, and it can be a good bio-indicator for heavy metal pollution in Ny(A)lesund.Though Ny(A)lesund is less polluted by heavy metal than nearby Northern European human living areas, but much more than the tundras of the Alaska, Greenland and the Antarctic. |
