Identification of sources of atmospheric particulate matter and trace metals in Constantine,Algeria

Very few previous investigations of respirable PM have been undertaken in the city of Constantine, Algeria. In general, air quality in Algeria and other Maghreb countries has not been extensively studied because of the insufficient number of researchers involved in this field and the unreliability of the few air quality monitoring networks installed in Algeria. It is therefore of utmost importance to address this problem in order to estimate the concentration levels of PM10 and their origins. The purpose of this study was to identify the different sources of PM10 and some chemical elements (Pb, Cu, Zn, Fe, K, Ca, Na, Mg) at a traffic site at Zouaghi, in the south of Constantine, using different statistical methods: factor analysis (FA) to categorise the different trace elements according to their origin, and the enrichment factor (EF) to identify terrigenous elements and those having a marine origin. We also used back-trajectories clustering to identify potential distant sources that contribute to particulate pollution and metallic elements in our site.