As a systematic research at basin scale, this study investigated the spatial distribution, source apportionment and ecological risks of eighteen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in surface sediments at different functional regions (rivers, lakes and reservoirs) from Taihu basin. Results showed that the mean values of 18 PAHs (defined as ∑18PAHs) in river sediments (1277 ng/g) was much higher than those observed in lake sediments (243 ng/g) and reservoir sediments (134 ng/g). The accumulation of PAHs in river sediments was largely impacted by the local social-economic development and energy consumption. The positive matrix factorization (PMF) and isomer ratios analysis of PAHs suggest that relative contributions to PAHs in sediments were 15% for gasoline and heavy oil combustion, 9% for oil spills, 30% for coal combustion, 23% for traffic source, and 23% for diagenetic source. Ecological risk assessment based upon risk quotient (RQ) method indicated that sediments at Taihu basin have suffered moderate risk of PAHs.

Recently, the rapid growth in vehicle activity in rapidly urbanized areas has led to the discharge of large amounts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) into roadside soils and these compounds have gradually accumulated in the soil, which poses a serious threat to national food security and public health. However, previous studies did not clearly investigate the seasonal differences in PAH pollution of roadside soil by different highways. Therefore, based on field investigations, this study collected 84 soil surface samples to compare the pollution characteristics of 16 PAHs in farmland soils located near different roads in different seasons in Guangzhou, China. The results showed that the concentration of Σ16PAHs in farmland soils in spring (with a mean value of 258.604 μg/kg) was much higher than that in autumn (with a mean value of 157.531 μg/kg). There are differences in the PAH compositions in spring (4 ring > 3 ring > 5 ring > 6 ring) and autumn (4 ring > 5 ring > 6 ring > 3 ring). The proportion of 4−6 ring PAHs was much higher than 2−3 ring PAHs in both seasons. The spatial differences were significant. The sampling areas with higher concentrations of 16 PAHs were Tanbu Town, Huadu District (TB), Shitan Town, Zengcheng District (ST), and Huashan Town, Huadu District (HS), while the lowest concentration was in Lanhe Town, Nansha District (LH). The results of the diagnostic ratios showed that the main source of soil PAHs consists of a mixed source from petroleum and biomass combustion. The results from the total pollution assessment method and Nemerow index method indicated that the pollution levels of PAHs in the farmland soils indicated weak contamination. Our study provides a scientific basis for the prevention and control of soil pollution in farmlands near highways.

The aims of the present research were to evaluate the health risk of long-term exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) concerning the human, ecotoxicological risk for marine biota, and identify their possible sources. Surface sediment bioassay samples were collected from 15 stations of tourist beaches surrounding Bushehr City and analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The results indicated the concentrations of ∑PAH ranged from 193.5 to 725.5 ng g-1 with mean value of 351.1 ± 155.2 ng g-1, which could be considered as moderate level of pollution. Measured levels of PAH in sediments were compared with sediment quality guidelines (SQGs), indicating low to medium ecotoxicological risk on marine organisms. Moreover, mean ERM quotient (M-ERM-Q) and mean PEL quotient (M-PEL-Q) were implemented, demonstrating potentially biological adverse effects. A preliminary evaluation of human health risk using incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) and toxic equivalent quotient (TEQcarc) indicated that PAH-contaminated sediment in some stations of touristic beaches of Bushehr City would induce potential carcinogenic effects especially for children. Composition and diagnostic analysis indicated that PAHs originated from both pyrogenic and petrogenic, with higher portion of incomplete combustion PAHs.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), as persistent toxic substances (PTS), have been widely monitored in coastal environment, including seawater and sediment. However, scientific monitoring methods, like ecological risk assessment and integrated biomarker response, still need massive researches to verify their availabilities. This study was performed in March, May, August and October of 2018 at eight sites, Yellow River estuary (S1), Guangli Port (S2), Xiaying (S3), Laizhou (S4), Inner Bay (S5), Outer Bay (S6), Hongdao (S7) and Hongshiya (S8) of Shandong Peninsula, China. The contents of 16 priority PAHs in local seawater and sediment were determined, by which ecological risk assessment risk quotient (RQ) for seawater and sediment quality guidelines (SQGs) were calculated to characterize the PAHs pollution. Meanwhile, multiple biomarkers in the digestive gland of clam Ruditapes philippinarum were measured to represent different biological endpoints, including ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD), glutathione S-transferase (GST), sulfotransferase (SULT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and lipid peroxidation (LPO), by which integrated biomarker response (IBR) was calculated to provide a comprehensive assessment of environmental quality. Taken together, these results revealed the heaviest pollution at S2 as both PAHs concentrations and biomarkers responses reflected, and supported the integrated biomarker response as a useful tool for marine environmental monitoring, through its integration with SQGs.

Substances with (very) persistent, (very) bioaccumulative, and/or toxic properties (PBT/vPvB) are of environmental concern and are identified via hazard-based PBT-assessment approaches. The PBT-assessment of well-defined substances is optimized over the past decades, but is under development for substances of unknown or variable composition, complex reaction products or biological materials (UVCBs). Particularly, the large number of constituents and variable composition complicate the PBT-assessment of UVCBs. For petroleum UVCBs, the use of the hydrocarbon block method (HBM) is proposed. Within this method, groups of constituents with similar physicochemical properties and structure are treated as a single entity and are expected to have comparable environmental fate and hazard properties. So far, however, there is a lack of experience with the application of the HBM for PBT-assessment purposes. The aim of this study is to investigate the suitability of the HBM for the PBT-assessment of petroleum UVCBs by evaluating the group of alkylated three-ring polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The presented approach is based on experimental data and model predictions and followed the guidelines of the European Chemicals Agency. Because of a lack of relevant experimental data, relative trend analyses were applied. The results indicate that alkylated three-ring PAHs are more persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic than the parent three-ring PAHs. As the parent three-ring PAHs are currently identified within Europe as PBT/vPvB substances, the alkylated three-ring PAHs could also be considered as PBT/vPvB. Accordingly, this case study provides the prospects for the application of the HBM for the PBT-assessment of UVCBs using trend analysis.

Our previous study revealed PAHs\' wide occurrence in corals from multiple coral reef regions (CRRs) in the South China Sea. However, little is known about their occurrence, distribution, fate, and sources in the ambient environment of these CRRs. This study aimed to resolve these research gaps. The results showed ∑15PAHs (total concentrations of 15 US EPA priority controlled PAHs exclude naphthalene) in the atmosphere (gas-phase: 0.31-49.6 ng m-3; particle-phase: 2.6-649 pg m-3) were mainly influenced by air mass origins. Southwesterly wind caused higher ∑15PAHs than the southeasterly wind. The ∑15PAHs in seawater from the nearshore (462 ± 244 ng L-1) was higher than that from offshore Zhongsha Islands (80.5 ± 72.1 ng L-1) because of the effect of terrigenous pollution and ocean current. Source apportionment indicated that the mixed sources of spilled oil and combustion from neighboring countries were the main contributors to PAHs in these CRRs. The total deposition fluxes showed that PAHs tended to migrate from the atmosphere to seawater. Global warming may inhibit this process, but PAHs still have a migration pattern of atmosphere-ocean-corals, which will further increase the environmental pressure on coral reef ecology.

The ever-increasing anthropogenic activities have adversely impacted coral reef ecosystems and their ecological functions. This calls for an urgent assessment of the health state of these valuable ecosystems to justify the need for mitigation and proper management efforts. In this contribution, we used multiple indicators to assess the impact of intense oil-related activities on coral reefs in two near-by impacted and non-impacted islands in the northwestern Persian Gulf. The efficacy of indices was assessed using estimations of the effect size (omega-squared), precision, and decision trees (Classification and Regression Tree (CART)). The results demonstrated that the combination of bioaccumulation of ƩPAH in coral tissues, the percent of live coral cover, and the Sediment Constituent (SEDCON) Index were the most robust proxies reflecting the influence of human activities on reef\'s health. Based on sedimentary PAH concentration, the CART classified most of the indicators into two classes consisting of those in impacted and those in non-impacted locations, further supporting the feasibility of the employed indices. The findings of this study provided a warning of degradation in coral reefs of the island subjected to PAH pollution. This encourages decision-makers to execute routine monitoring and mitigation practices to maintain healthy reefs in the study areas.

A suitable extraction protocol based on an liquid-liquid extraction with hexane/dimethyl sulfoxide and a GC/MS method were developed and validated to determine the concentration of six prohibited Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs; benzo[a]pyrene; dibenz[a,h]anthracene; benz[a]anthracene; benzo[j]fluoranthene; benzo[k]fluoranthene; chrysene) in lipsticks commissioned by a cosmetic company to a manufacturer. The lipsticks were produced in four different colors. Analyses confirmed the presence of benz[a]anthracene and chrysene only in two colors in a concentration of 9.3-9.4 ng/g. The concentration of PAHs was 250 times lower than what is considered a toxic level on the basis of what reported in the litaraure and guidances for cosmetic ingredients; therefore we could assume that the risk for consumer health was negligeble.

A combined assessment on the levels and distribution profiles of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and trace elements in soils from Pyramiden (Central Spitsbergen, Svalbard Archipelago) is here reported. As previously stated, long-range atmospheric transport, coal deposits and previous mining extractions, as well as the stack emissions of two operative power plants at this settlement are considered as potential sources of pollution. Eight top-layer soil samples were collected and analysed for the 16 US EPA priority PAHs and for 15 trace elements (As, Be, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sn, Tl, V and Zn) during late summer of 2014. The highest levels of PAHs and trace elements were found in sampling sites located near two power plants, and at downwind from these sites. The current PAH concentrations were even higher than typical threshold values. The determination of the pyrogenic molecular diagnostic ratios (MDRs) in most samples revealed that fossil fuel burning might be heavily contributing to the PAHs levels. Two different indices, the Pollution Load Index (PLI) and the Geoaccumulation Index (Igeo), were determined for assessing soil samples with respect to trace elements pollution. Samples collected close to the power plants were found to be slightly and moderately polluted with zinc (Zn) and mercury (Hg), respectively. The Spearman correlation showed significant correlations between the concentrations of 16 PAHs and some trace elements (Pb, V, Hg, Cu, Zn, Sn, Be) with the organic matter content, indicating that soil properties play a key role for pollutant retention in the Arctic soils. Furthermore, the correlations between ∑16 PAHs and some trace elements (e.g., Hg, Pb, Zn and Cu) suggest that the main source of contamination is probably pyrogenic, although the biogenic and petrogenic origin of PAHs should not be disregarded according to the local geology.

To obtain the historical changes of pyrogenic sources, integrated source apportionment methods, which include PAH compositions, diagnostic ratios (DRs), Pb isotopic ratios, and positive matrix factorization (PMF) model, were developed and applied in sediments of the northern South China Sea. These methods provided a gradually clear picture of energy structural change. Spatially, Σ15PAH (11.3 to 95.5ng/g) and Pb (10.2 to 74.6μg/g) generally exhibited decreasing concentration gradient offshore; while the highest levels of PAHs and Pb were observed near the southern Taiwan Strait, which may be induced by accumulation of different fluvial input. Historical records of pollutants followed closely with the economic development of China, with fast growth of Σ15PAH and Pb occurring since the 1980s and 1990s, respectively. The phasing-out of leaded gasoline in China was captured with a sharp decrease of Pb after the mid-1990s. PAHs and Pb correlated well with TOC and clay content for core sediments, which was not observed for surface sediments. There was an up-core increase of high molecular PAH proportions. Coal and biomass burning were then qualitatively identified as the major sources of PAHs with DRs. Furthermore, shift toward less radiogenic signatures of Pb isotopic ratios after 1900 revealed the start and growing importance of industrial sources. Finally, a greater separation and quantification of various input was achieved by a three-factor PMF model, which made it clear that biomass burning, coal combustion, and vehicle emissions accounted for 40±20%, 41±13%, and 19±12% of PAHs through the core. Biomass and coal combustion acted as major sources before 2000, while contributions from vehicle emission soared thereafter. The integrated multi-methodologies here improved the source apportionment by reducing biases with a step-down and cross-validation perspective, which could be similarly applied to other aquatic systems.