Physical and chemical characterization of suspended atmospheric particles and source identification in town of Meknes in Morocco

The purpose of this study is the characterization and the source identification of the suspended atmospheric particles (pm-10) in town of meknes in morocco. the particles were collected, between march 2007 and april 2008, and the concentrations of nine elements (al, ca, cr, cu, fe, k, mn, pb and zn) were analysed, whereas solubility degree of metals was determined by sequential extractions. the results obtained make it possible to see that the chemical compositions present quite seasonal variation with generally the same distribution for fine and coarse fractions. it is also noted that pb concentrations are higher than the air quality standards. moreover, sequential extractions showed that except of ca and k, elements were found in insoluble oxide phases. while, application of particles morphologies and micro-analyses and statistical techniques like: ascending hierarchical clustering (ahc), principal component analysis (pca) and positive matrix factorization (pmf), show the influence of the natural and anthropogenic sources: mineral emissions (cement factory), re-suspended soil particles, road traffic and rail traffic.