HEAVY METALS DISTRIBUTION IN SOME LICHENS, MOSSES, AND TREES IN THE VICINITY OF LIGNITE POWER PLANTS FROM WEST MACEDONIA, GREECE

ABSTRACT A comparative investigation of seven heavy metals (Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Cd and Pb) in mosses, lichens and trees over the Kozani-Ptolemaïda-Amynteon lignite basin in West Macedonia, Greece has carried out. In this region there are four lignite power plants producing about 70% of the electric energy of the country. Experiments have determined both concentrations of these elements and transfer factors that are defined as the ratio of the concentration of a given element in an investigated organism to the concentration of the same element in the soil. This study indicates that compared to trees, mosses and lichens have a higher capacity for absorbing and accumulating heavy metals. The conifer Pinus nigra seems to have a higher affinity for these metals than the other tree species, which is manifested in a better correlation of the distribution functions as well as greater values of transfer factor. Compared with unpolluted areas, the concentration of chromium, manganese, iron, nickel, cadmium and lead are systematically increasing in tree leaves in the vicinity of all four power plants.