The offshore of Leizhou
Peninsula (LP, China), which contains unique
ecosystems such as mangroves, seagrass beds, and coral reefs, is an
environmentally sensitive area. For this reason, the levels of aliphatic
hydrocarbon including biomarkers (hopanes, steranes) in the offshore
seafloor sediments were analyzed in terms of their composition, distribution,
and input sources and aimed to evaluate the extent of possible petroleum
hydrocarbon contamination in the sediments of coastal areas. The total
aliphatic hydrocarbons (TAH) fraction, the content of total
n
-alkanes (
n
C
14
–
n
C
37
) (∑
n
-alkanes), and
content of hopane + sterane are in the range of 13.76–99.53,
1.22–8.33, and 0.02–0.23 μg/g dw, respectively.
The presence of unresolved complex mixture (UCM) hydrocarbons hump
and petrogenic steranes and hopanes in these seafloor sediments suggest
that petrogenic sourced hydrocarbon inputs were present. The stations
on the peninsula’s southwest side had the lowest values of
UCM/resolved aliphatic compounds (UCM/R) and UCM/
n
-alkanes. These findings suggest that seafloor sediments from the
southwest offshore of the peninsula were likely contaminated by recently
inputted petroleum hydrocarbons. The presence of relatively high ∑
n
-alkanes content in seafloor sediments from southwest offshore
of the LP, combined with relatively low natural
n
-alkane ratios (NARs), indicates an increased influence of petrogenic
hydrocarbons. The elevated levels of recent petrogenic hydrocarbon
contamination in the sediments from the LP’s southwestern offshore
were likely related to petroleum exploitation in the Beibu Gulf’s
Maichen and Wushi sags.