[Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in agricultural soil (author's transl)].

The discussion about the possible consequences from the agricultural use of composted sewage sludge; which contains considerable amounts of polycyclic, aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), caused us to investigate the normal concentrations of these substances in soil from agricultural land. In 50 soil samples, mainly from various parts of the Federal Republic of Germany the following 6 PAH were determined: fluoranthene, benzo(b)fluoranthene, benzo(k)fluoranthene, benzo(a)pyrene, benzo(ghi)perylene, indeno(1.2.3-cd)pyrene. In 74% of the samples benzopyrene concentration was between 2 and 50 microgram/kg, and the sum of the 6 compounds between 50 and 500 microgram/kg. No smaller values were found, and higher concentrations in most cases could be connected to some source of pollution.