Assessment of the potential respiratory hazard of volcanic ash from future Icelandic eruptions: a study of archived basaltic to rhyolitic ash samples

Environmental Health

Research

Bice Fubini¹  Maura Tomatis¹  Gudrun Larsen²  Thorvaldur Thordarson²  Claire J. Horwell³  Ken Donaldson⁴  David E. Damby⁵ 

[1] Dipartimento di Chimica, “G. Scansetti” Interdepartmental Center for Studies on Asbestos and other Toxic Particulates, Università degli Studi di Torino, Torino, Italy;Institute of Earth Sciences, Nordvulk, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland;Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience, Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, Durham, UK;The Queen’s Medical Research Institute, The University of Edinburgh/MRC Centre for Inflammation Research, Edinburgh, UK;US Geological Survey, Western Regional Offices, Menlo Park, CA, USA;Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany;Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience, Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, Durham, UK;

关键词: Volcanic ash;    Health hazard;    Air pollution;    Particle characterization;    Free radicals;    Haemolysis;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12940-017-0302-9

 received in 2017-05-10, accepted in 2017-08-23,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull (2010) and Grímsvötn (2011), Iceland, triggered immediate, international consideration of the respiratory health hazard of inhaling volcanic ash, and prompted the need to estimate the potential hazard posed by future eruptions of Iceland’s volcanoes to Icelandic and Northern European populations.MethodsA physicochemical characterization and toxicological assessment was conducted on a suite of archived ash samples spanning the spectrum of past eruptions (basaltic to rhyolitic magmatic composition) of Icelandic volcanoes following a protocol specifically designed by the International Volcanic Health Hazard Network.ResultsIcelandic ash can be of a respirable size (up to 11.3 vol.% < 4 μm), but the samples did not display physicochemical characteristics of pathogenic particulate in terms of composition or morphology. Ash particles were generally angular, being composed of fragmented glass and crystals. Few fiber-like particles were observed, but those present comprised glass or sodium oxides, and are not related to pathogenic natural fibers, like asbestos or fibrous zeolites, thereby limiting concern of associated respiratory diseases. None of the samples contained cristobalite or tridymite, and only one sample contained quartz, minerals of interest due to the potential to cause silicosis. Sample surface areas are low, ranging from 0.4 to 1.6 m2 g−1, which aligns with analyses on ash from other eruptions worldwide. All samples generated a low level of hydroxyl radicals (HO•), a measure of surface reactivity, through the iron-catalyzed Fenton reaction compared to concurrently analyzed comparative samples. However, radical generation increased after ‘refreshing’ sample surfaces, indicating that newly erupted samples may display higher reactivity. A composition-dependent range of available surface iron was measured after a 7-day incubation, from 22.5 to 315.7 μmol m−2, with mafic samples releasing more iron than silicic samples. All samples were non-reactive in a test of red blood cell-membrane damage.ConclusionsThe primary particle-specific concern is the potential for future eruptions of Iceland’s volcanoes to generate fine, respirable material and, thus, to increase ambient PM concentrations. This particularly applies to highly explosive silicic eruptions, but can also hold true for explosive basaltic eruptions or discrete events associated with basaltic fissure eruptions.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017