Beriro D J, Bearcock J M, Vane C H, Marchant B, Martin I, Haslam A, Pickering H, Hughes M, James A
British Geological Survey, Nicker Hill, Keyworth, Nottinghamshire, NG12 5GG, UK.
British Geological Survey, Nicker Hill, Keyworth, Nottinghamshire, NG12 5GG, UK.
Environ Pollut. 2025 Aug 15;379:126401. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2025.126401. Epub 2025 May 10.
This research addresses a knowledge gap in the detectability, concentrations, and types of per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) present in shallow soils in England, UK. While the water environment has been, and continues to be, the subject of significant testing and research for these chemicals, soils are still poorly understood. Estimates of anthropogenic background concentrations of PFAS helps with the assessment of potential contamination scenarios, setting benchmark levels and risk evaluation. This research comprised an assessment of the suitability of using archive soil samples to support contemporary samples to give a preliminary indication of likely anthropogenic background concentrations of PFAS in shallow soils in England. We retrieved 25 archive samples and collected nine contemporary samples from the same geographical location as their paired archive counterpart. Samples were analysed for 53 PFAS with limits of quantification between 0.1 and 0.5 μg/kg dry weight (dw). The results showed that archive samples contained lower concentrations (mean ∑PFAS-53, 1 μg/kg dw) than paired contemporary soil samples (mean ∑PFAS-53, 3 μg/kg dw). The concentrations reported by this study were similar to other surveys at international, national and regional scales. Our study showed that PFAS were detected in both archive and contemporary field samples. Based on the current availability of archive samples in England, contemporary field samples should be used as the primary sample type in future research on background concentrations of PFAS in soils. Archive samples have the potential provide complimentary temporal and compositional insights to support the derivation of background concentrations.
本研究填补了英国英格兰浅层土壤中全氟和多氟烷基物质（PFAS）的可检测性、浓度及类型方面的知识空白。虽然水环境一直是且仍然是这些化学物质大量检测和研究的对象，但土壤仍未得到充分了解。PFAS人为背景浓度的估算有助于评估潜在污染情况、设定基准水平和进行风险评估。本研究包括评估使用存档土壤样本辅助当代样本，以初步指示英格兰浅层土壤中PFAS可能的人为背景浓度的适用性。我们获取了25个存档样本，并从与其配对的存档样本相同地理位置收集了9个当代样本。对样本进行了53种PFAS的分析，定量限在0.1至0.5微克/千克干重之间。结果表明，存档样本中的浓度（平均∑PFAS - 53，1微克/千克干重）低于配对的当代土壤样本（平均∑PFAS - 53，3微克/千克干重）。本研究报告的浓度与国际、国家和区域尺度上的其他调查结果相似。我们的研究表明，在存档样本和当代实地样本中均检测到了PFAS。基于目前英格兰存档样本的可得情况，在未来关于土壤中PFAS背景浓度的研究中，当代实地样本应作为主要样本类型。存档样本有可能提供补充的时间和成分见解，以支持背景浓度的推导。
