A study on the precipitation in Izmir, Turkey: chemical composition and source apportionment by receptor models

The chemistry of rainwater was studied in three sites of a metropolitan city of Turkey to determine the spatial variation, sources affecting composition and the extent of their influence. The acidity of rainwater, Ca, Co, Cr, Zn, Ba, V and Ni showed significant spatial variations. The most of measured species were moderately to extremely enriched compared to the local soil, which is likely arisen from the anthropogenic activities. SO4 (2-), K and Ca were found to be predominantly non-sea origin. Two receptor models, Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) and Chemical Mass Balance (CMB), agreed well on the source contribution estimations of Al, K, Zn, V, Pb and Cr. The PMF and CMB resolved very similar source contribution profiles to the elemental concentrations of Ca, Zn, V, Pb, K and Na, which the majority of those resulted from mineral industries, bell casting+steel industries, fossil fuel burning, biomass burning+sea salt and sea salt, respectively. The PMF resolved the source contributions of long-transported emissions, particularly for Ba, Sr and Mn, which could not be estimated by the CMB