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Lead Isotope Tracking Of Atmospheric Response To Post- Industrial Conditions In Yerevan, Armenia, Charles Dunlap, Robert Kurkjian

Charles Dunlap

Temporal gradients in environmental lead concentrations and isotopic compositions trace the rapidly shifting transition from high to low industrial emissions in Yerevan, Armenia following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Shortly after the breakup, in 1995 and 1996, atmospheric lead concentrations averaged ~0.4 µg/m3 and the combustion of leaded gasoline was the primary source of industrial lead emissions in Yerevan. But by 1998, unleaded gasoline was predominant and atmospheric lead concentrations had decreased by two orders of magnitude to ≤ 0.003 µg/m3 because industrial lead emissions from stationary sources had also been radically curtailed. The increased …