Origin of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Coastal Marine Sediments: Case Studies in Cotonou (Benin) and Aquitaine (France) Areas

In-situ partitioning and bioconcentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons among water, suspended particulate matter, and fish in the Dongjiang and Pearl Rivers and the Pearl River Estuary, China

“…PAHs with molecular mass of 178 and 202 were commonly used to distinguish between combustion and petroleum sources (Budzinski et al, 1997;Gschwend and Hites, 1981;Sicre et al, 1987;Soclo et al, 2000). PAHs with molecular masses of 228 and 276 were also used as parent PAH indicators (Yunker et al, 2002).…”

Composition, sources, and potential toxicological significance of PAHs in the surface sediments of the Meiliang Bay, Taihu Lake, China

“…To estimate the origin of the PAHs in the Meiliang Bay sediment samples, the LMW/HMW ratio (the sum of the low molecular weight PAH concentrations to the sum of higher molecular weight PAH concentrations; i.e., Naph + Aceph + Ace + Fl + Phe + An / Flu + Pyr + BaA + Chr + BbF + BkF + BaP + Inp + DBA + BgP) was determined. The choice of this index for source identification was based on the fact that the PAHs from a petrogenic origin consist predominantly of those with lower molecular weights (three to four rings), while the PAHs from a pyrogenic origin generally have higher molecular weights (Soclo et al, 1999).…”

“…Because of their different physico-chemical properties, they might behave differ- ently in the environment with characteristic Phe/An values for the identification of the PAH origin. Generally, a Phe/An ratio <10 and Flu/Pyr ratio > 1 indicates that the contamination by PAHs results from a combustion process (Soclo et al, 1999). Similarly, fluoranthene (Flu) is less thermodynamically stable than pyrene (Pyr); they are often associated with each other in natural matrices and a predominance of Flu over Pyr is characteristic of a pyrolytic process, while in petroleum-derived PAHs, pyrene is more abundant than fluoranthene.…”

“…The pyrolytic PAH inputs at Meiliang Bay are also confirmed by the Chry/BaA ratios being lower than 1. Data in Table 2 showed that for the majority of samples, the LMW/HMW ratios were relatively low (0.05 -0.23) to support the pyrolytic origin (Soclo et al, 1999). Furthermore, BaP as a marker for some combustion-derived PAHs has been investigated in the past few years (Magi et al, 2002), based on the fact that its level in petroleum is usually negligible.…”

Sedimentary record of PAHs in the Barigui River and its relation to the socioeconomic development of Curitiba, Brazil

“…By contrast, petrogenic PAHs are produced when organic matter is matured over geological time through a geothermal gradient (Wan et al, 2005). The contribution of PAHs derived by microbial activity is considered small and has not yet been fully described (Bzdusek et al, 2004;Opuene et al, 2007;Soclo et al, 2000).…”