Particle size distributions of currently used pesticides in a rural atmosphere of France
Résumé
This work presents first data on the particle size distributions of current-used pesticides in the atmosphere. Ambient air samples were collected using a cascade impactor distributed into four size fractions in a rural site of Centre Region (France). Most pesticides were accumulated in the fine (0.1–1 μm) particle size fraction such as cyprodinil, pendimethalin, fenpropidin, fenpropimorph and spiroxamine. Other pesticides such as acetochlor and metolachlor presented a bimodal distribution with maximum concentrations in the ultrafine (0.03–0.1 μm)–coarse (1–10 μm) and in the ultrafine–fine size ranges, respectively. No pesticides were detected in the size fraction >10 μm.