Factors Influencing the National Distribution of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Polychlorinated Biphenyls in British Soils

The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) naphthalene, acenaphthylene, acenaphthene, fluorene, fluoranthene, pyrene, benzo[a]anthracene, chrysene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, benzo[a]pyrene, ideno[1,2,3,-cd]pyrene, dibenz[a,h]anthracene, benzo[g,h,i]perylene and the polychlorinated...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental science & technology 2006-12, Vol.40 (24), p.7629-7635
Main Authors: Heywood, Elizabeth, Wright, Julian, Wienburg, Claire L, Black, Helaina I. J, Long, Sara M, Osborn, Dan, Spurgeon, David J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Climate
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics
Exact sciences and technology
Hydrocarbons
PCB
Pollution
Pollution sources. Measurement results
Pollution, environment geology
Polychlorinated biphenyls
Polychlorinated Biphenyls - analysis
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
Polycyclic Compounds - analysis
Regression analysis
Soil and sediments pollution
Soil contamination
Soil Pollutants - analysis
Soil testing
United Kingdom
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Summary:The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) naphthalene, acenaphthylene, acenaphthene, fluorene, fluoranthene, pyrene, benzo[a]anthracene, chrysene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, benzo[a]pyrene, ideno[1,2,3,-cd]pyrene, dibenz[a,h]anthracene, benzo[g,h,i]perylene and the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) 8, 18, 28, 29, 31, 52, 77, 101, 105, 114, 118, 123, 126, 128, 138, 141, 149, 153, 156, 157, 163, 169, 170, 171, 180, 183, 187, 189, 194, 199, 201, 206, and 209 were measured in ∼200 rural soils across Great Britain (GB). Dominance of soil PAH profiles by heavier compounds (4−6 rings) provided initial evidence for the importance of source in governing soil PAH concentrations. No relationship was found between soil organic matter (SOM) and sum concentration of total and “heavy” PAHs, although there was a weak positive relationship with lighter compounds. A spatial statistical technique showed that highest soil PAH concentrations were usually found close to industrial/urban centers where presumably source intensity is highest. PCBs clustered into seven groups, five of which contained a single “dioxin like” PCB, one contained lighter congeners (2−4 chlorines), and one contained heavy congeners (5−10 chlorines). Linear regressions with SOM explained up to 24.3% of variation for the sum concentration of penta- to deca- congeners, but
ISSN:0013-936X
1520-5851
DOI:10.1021/es061296x