Multielement and Rare Earth Element Composition of the Soil and Lichen from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

The main objective of this study is to assess the level of contamination from mercury and other elements in the Sarajevo area. The soil and lichen samples (Hypogymnia physodes) were collected from selected areas there were nine soil sites and four sites for lichens. Validated and standardized analytical procedures were used in order to compare the obtained results with data from other countries in Europe. The accuracy of the results obtained by cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometry (CVAAS) for total mercury and instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) for other elements (Ag, As, Au, Ba, Br, Ca, Cd, Ce, Co, Cr, Cs, Eu, Fe, Ga, Hf, Ho, In, K, La, Mo, Na, Nd, Pd, Pr, Rb, Ru, Sb, Sc, Se, Sm, Sn, Sr, Ta, Tb, Te, Th, Tm, U, W, Yb, Zn, and Zr) was verified by the use of certified reference materials. Results obtained for mercury showed that at three sites (Butmir, PMF, and Blekin potok) the mercury concentrations in the soil were much higher, 5 to 10 times higher, than the allowed values. All lichens samples examined contained low mercury concentrations that cannot be correlated with the mercury contents in the soil. Comparison of the multielemental analysis of the lichen H. physodes and surface soils samples is also presented.