Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Tools of the Trade
  • Published:

Particulate matter sampling to assess air pollution

Nature Reviews Earth & Environment volume 5, page 230 (2024)Cite this article

Subjects

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that air pollution is responsible for approximately 7 million premature deaths each year (https://www.who.int/health-topics/air-pollution). Therefore, measurements of local variations in the chemical elements present in the atmosphere are needed to support governments and environmental agencies in implementing policies to mitigate the effects of air pollution. Urban dust is a good indicator of air pollution because it contains sediments and atmospheric material produced by natural processes, such as wind and water erosion, as well as those from anthropogenic processes, including mineral extraction, industrial or vehicle combustion and wear and tear of vehicle parts. However, many techniques for capturing airborne dust require complex equipment such as high-volume samplers, which use large amounts of energy and can be expensive, large and heavy.

Urban dust measurements can be used to assess the ecological and health impacts of human activities. For example, dust samples have been analysed for contaminants in urban zones of Nueva Rosita (Mexico), which is a mineralized area that is also surrounded by waste from coal mining. These measurements revealed high contamination factors for Zn, Cd and Pb, with Cd presenting the largest ecological risk. The measured concentrations of these pollutants do not currently pose a chronic risk to human health. However, continued measurements of urban dust could be used to monitor this risk and support the introduction of policies to address the problem if needed.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Acknowledgements

The author thanks the thesis committee, mainly J. Amador and D. Martínez. Additionally, the author gives special thanks to A. Vazquez, R. Caballero, M. Martínez, C. Arrieta, F. Núñez, and A. Lozano. The author extends her appreciation to GeoLatinas for their commitment to supporting Latinas in geoscience.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies and Research, Autonomous University of Coahuila, Coahuila, Mexico

    Lisbett Susana Materano-Escalona

  2. Applied Geoscience Research Centre, Autonomous University of Coahuila, Coahuila, Mexico

    Lisbett Susana Materano-Escalona

Authors
  1. Lisbett Susana Materano-Escalona
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lisbett Susana Materano-Escalona.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Materano-Escalona, L.S. Particulate matter sampling to assess air pollution. Nat Rev Earth Environ 5, 230 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-024-00538-w

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-024-00538-w

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing