Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science of the Ministry of Education, School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, 500 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200241, China.
Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science of the Ministry of Education, School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, 500 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200241, China; Institute of Eco-Chongming (IEC), 3663 N. Zhongshan Road, Shanghai 200062, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 May 10;768:145279. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145279. Epub 2021 Jan 22.
Human activity is suggested to increase polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) pollution and also cause PAHs' sources complex in estuarine environments. However, the human impacts and source apportionment of PAHs in estuarine sediments at a continental scale remains poorly understood. In this study, we investigated geographical distribution of PAHs and used the compound-specific carbon isotope approach to characterize the sources of PAHs in the sediments of estuaries along the latitudinal gradient over China. We also used human population and economic size to characterize the human impacts on PAHs pollution in the estuaries. The concentrations of total PAHs (Σ PAH) in wet and dry seasons ranged from 60.9 to 330.7 ng g and from 103.9 to 620.6 ng g, respectively, across the estuaries. At the continental scale, the concentrations of PAHs were significantly higher in dry than in wet seasons. The proportions of low molecular weight (LMW, 2-3 ring PAHs), middle molecular weight (MMW, 4 ring PAH) and high molecular weight (HMW, 5-6 ring PAHs) of PAHs varied largely across the estuaries, with being in a range of 26.4-48.5%, 17.2-34.1%, 25.3-46.8% in wet season and in a range of 24.0-58.4%, 18.4-52.4%, 21.8-48.6% in dry season. The concentrations of PAHs were found to be significantly correlated with per capita GDP throughout the studied estuaries. The δC of individual PAH ranged from -26 to -32‰ and from -24 to -29‰ in dry and wet seasons, respectively. The main sources of PAHs indicated by the δC across the estuaries were coal-processing and biomass combustion. These results suggest that the increasing human activities intensity can increase the PAHs pollution in sediments of the estuaries.
人类活动被认为会增加多环芳烃（PAHs）污染，并使河口环境中 PAHs 的来源变得更加复杂。然而，在大陆尺度上，人类活动对河口沉积物中 PAHs 的影响和来源分配仍知之甚少。在本研究中，我们调查了 PAHs 的地理分布，并利用化合物特异性碳同位素方法来描述中国沿纬度梯度的河口沉积物中 PAHs 的来源。我们还用人均人口和经济规模来描述人类活动对河口 PAHs 污染的影响。在干湿两季，各河口沉积物中总多环芳烃（Σ PAH）的浓度范围分别为 60.9-330.7ng/g 和 103.9-620.6ng/g。在大陆尺度上，PAHs 的浓度在旱季显著高于雨季。PAHs 中低分子量（LMW，2-3 环 PAHs）、中分子量（MMW，4 环 PAH）和高分子量（HMW，5-6 环 PAHs）的比例在各河口差异很大，分别在湿季的 26.4-48.5%、17.2-34.1%和 25.3-46.8%，在干季的 24.0-58.4%、18.4-52.4%和 21.8-48.6%。研究发现，各河口 PAHs 的浓度与人均 GDP 呈显著正相关。各 PAH 的 δC 值在干、湿两季分别为-26 至-32‰和-24 至-29‰。各河口 PAHs 的主要来源是煤加工和生物质燃烧。这些结果表明，人类活动强度的增加会导致河口沉积物中 PAHs 污染的增加。
