# Risk Elements in Total Suspended Particles in Areas Affected by Opencast Mining of Brown Coal
## 3 Results and Discussion
### Element Contents in the Deposited TSP
[PERSON] and [PERSON] [47] identified Mn, Cu, and Zn as the predominant risk elements with an abundance of 17%, 15%, and 9%, respectively, of the total amount of risk elements in PM\({}_{2.5}\). In this experiment, although the TSP was not separated according to particle size, the results indicated a similar pattern. These proportions are related to the obvious proportions of these elements present in soils [48], and thus, there was no distinct pattern of these elements in TSP compared to the soil. For all elements, no significant differences (\(p>0.05\)) were recorded either among the element deposition at individual sampling points or among the sampling years. However, significant differences (\(p<0.05\)) were observed among the individual seasons of the year, except for Zn, where the deposition was comparable for all the seasons. For all remaining elements, their deposition in spring significantly (\(p<0.05\)) exceeded their deposition in autumn and winter, and in the case of Cd, Co, Cu, Mn, and V their deposition exceeded that of summer. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [49] reviewed the risk elements in different areas of the world from 2006 and stated that most of the reviewed studies found higher concentrations of risk elements during winter than in other seasons due to low-temperature inversion. However, in this study, the intensified coal mining activities in spring and summer are anticipated to contribute significantly to the elevated element contents in the TSP in these seasons. The exceptional behavior of Zn in the results of this study is supported by the Spearman's correlation coefficients (\(\rho\)) of the interrelationships among the elements bound to the deposited TSP (Supplementary Table S3). These results showed significant (\(p<0.05\)) correlations between the TSP-bound elements as well as the amount of deposited TSP, except Zn, indicating alternative sources of Zn in the TSP in this experiment. Emission limits and maximum contents of selected risk elements in the air are determined according to the Air Protection Act (201/2012) [50]. The given emission limits for risk elements, which can pose human and animal health risks, as well as possible harmful effects on vegetation and ecosystems, are 6 ng/m\({}^{3}\)/year for As, 5 ng/m\({}^{3}\)/year for Cd, 20 ng/m\({}^{3}\)/year for Ni, and 500 ng/m\({}^{3}\)/year for Pb. The law also specifies emission limits of 40 \(\upmu\)g/m\({}^{3}\)/year for dust particles sized PM\({}_{10}\) and 20 \(\upmu\)g/m\({}^{3}\)/year for PM\({}_{2.5}\). However, the standard does not specify the risk posed by dust particles if they fall on the Earth's surface, e.g., on the soil. Moreover, it is extremely difficult to discriminate between the inherent soil-borne elements and those generated by industrial emissions. For an assessment of the potential risk element enrichment of the soil via atmospheric deposition from anthropogenic sources, various mathematical models were developed. Among them is the soil environmental capacity model developed by [PERSON] et al. [37], a mathematical expression representing the change in the soil environmental system. This model offers comprehensive information concerning the time-dependent increment of the risk element contents in the soils in the vicinity of an industrial facility. However, such a model requires not only data concerning the risk elements deposited on the soil but also detailed information concerning the outputs of the elements from the investigated area. These data are not available in this study; thus, the conclusion that the mining activities and chemical industry in the area have contributed to the elevated content of risk elements bound to the particulate matter remains speculative. Figure 2: The arsenic contents in suspended particles according to the individual sampling point (**a**), sampling year (**b**), and season of the year (**c**); the boxes marked by the same letter did not significantly differ at \(p<0.05\). Figure 3: The beryllium contents in suspended particles according to the individual sampling point.