Esr Indication of Heavy Metal Contamination of Urban Atmosphere

Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) was used for the examination oi dust samples collected from snow in an urban area. On the main doublet ESR line attributed to the signal of paramagnetic metals, a singlet line characteristic for stable free radical centers (FRC) was observed. A negative correlation of significant level between FRC signal intensity and heavy metal (HM) content was established. It was shown that FRC line intensity of dust may be used as a surrogate parameter for the estimation of air pollution by HM.