Elsevier

Pedosphere

Volume 32, Issue 6, December 2022, Pages 833-843
Pedosphere

Occurrence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the estuarine sediments of the Taihu Lake and their associated toxic effects on aquatic organisms

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedsph.2022.06.021Get rights and content

ABSTRACT

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous toxic organic pollutants in the natural environment that are strongly associated with socioeconomic activities. Exploring the distribution, sources, and ecological toxicity of PAHs is essential to abate their pollution and biological risks. The 16 priority PAHs in different lakeside city estuarine sediments in the northern Taihu Lake in China were determined using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Results showed that total concentrations of PAHs (ΣPAHs) ranged from 672.07 to 5 858.34 ng g−1, with a mean value of 2 121.37 ng g−1. High-molecular-weight PAHs (4–6 rings) were dominant, accounting for 85% of the ΣPAHs detected. Due to the barrier of gate/dam in the estuarine area, the concentrations of PAHs in the sediments were significantly different between the river mouth and lake side. Changes in total organic carbon (TOC) content and the spatial distribution of PAHs in the sediments were consistent. Sediment pollution assessment explored using the fuzzy evaluation model indicated 75% of slight PAH pollution. Some estuarine sediments (22%) concentrated in the east of the Wuli Lake in the Meiliang bay of the Taihu Lake were moderately or heavily polluted. The PAHs may lead to occasional detrimental biological consequences in the area. Diagnostic ratios and principal component analysis-multiple linear regression suggested vehicle emission and natural gas combustion as the primary PAH contributors (81%).

Section snippets

INTRODUCTION

Over the past few decades, the environment in the Taihu Lake basin in China has been deteriorated as a result of intense human activity, especially along the lakeside, where human population concentrates (Li Y et al., 2020; Huang et al., 2020). A sharp increase in population and expansion of land-use including agriculture, industry, and tourism are generating elevated local emissions of contaminants, directly affecting the lake environment. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are one of the

Study area and sample collection

The Taihu Lake (30°55′40″–31°32′58″ N, 119°52′32″–120°36′10″ E) is the third largest freshwater lake in China, located in the Yangtze River Delta (Fig. 1). The watershed covers an area of approximately 36 900 km2, with a population of more than 37 million, constituting 2.70% of the total population in China. More than 200 rivers flow in the Taihu Lake basin, and over 85% of them are connected to the lake, which receives large amounts of contaminants via riverine runoff (Zhao et al., 2017).

Occurrence of PAHs in estuarine sediments

Differences in PAH concentrations and compositions in the surface sediments of lakeside estuaries in the Taihu Lake are shown in Fig. 2. The 16 PAHs were detected in all samples, with levels ranging between 672.07 and 5 858.34 ng g−1, with a mean value of 2 121.37 ng g−1. The highest PAH concentration was recorded at M9-1 in the ML bay, with a value of 5 858.34 ng g−1. Sediments ranked into four pollution levels on the basis of the concentrations of PAHs: low (< 100 ng g−1), moderate (100–1 000

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, the dammed lakeside city estuaries in the northern Taihu Lake were employed to investigate the distribution, sources, and behavior of PAHs in sediments. The PAH concentrations in the estuarine sediments of the Taihu Lake were higher than those of most remote lakes in China, but lower than those of some lakes abroad. The concentrations of PAHs in the estuarine sediments from the ML bay were lower than those in river sediments, with the opposite phenomenon in the GH bay, which was

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41673107), the National Water Pollution Control and Treatment Science and Technology Major Project, China (No. 2017ZX07203-005), and the Major Project of Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education, China (No. 20KJA170001).

References (56)

  • I C T Nisbet et al.

    Toxic equivalency factors (TEFs) for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)

    Regul Toxicol Pharm

    (1992)
  • H W Paerl et al.

    Controlling harmful cyanobacterial blooms in a hyper-eutrophic lake (Lake Taihu, China): The need for a dual nutrient (N & P) management strategy

    Water Res

    (2011)
  • M F Simcik et al.

    Source apportionment and source/sink relationships of PAHs in the coastal atmosphere of Chicago and Lake Michigan

    Atmos Environ

    (1999)
  • M Z Tan et al.

    Spatial prediction of heavy metal pollution for soils in peri-urban Beijing, China based on fuzzy set theory

    Pedosphere

    (2006)
  • D Ueno et al.

    Specific accumulation of persistent organochlorines in bluefin tuna collected from Japanese coastal waters

    Mar Pollut Bull

    (2002)
  • X P Wang et al.

    One century sedimentary records of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, mercury and trace elements in the Qinghai Lake, Tibetan Plateau

    Environ Pollut

    (2010)
  • Q H Wu et al.

    Biological risk and pollution history of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Nansha mangrove, South China

    Mar Pollut Bull

    (2014)
  • J Yang et al.

    Occurrence, source, and partition of PAHs, PCBs, and OCPs in the multiphase system of an urban lake, Shanghai

    Appl Geochem

    (2019)
  • Y Yang et al.

    Risk assessment of heavy metal pollution in sediments of the Fenghe River by the fuzzy synthetic evaluation model and multivariate statistical methods

    Pedosphere

    (2016)
  • M B Yunker et al.

    PAHs in the Fraser River basin: A critical appraisal of PAH ratios as indicators of PAH source and composition

    Org Geochem

    (2002)
  • Z H Zhao et al.

    Spatial correlation analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in sediments between Taihu Lake and its tributary rivers

    Ecotoxicol Environ Safe

    (2017)
  • B A M Bandowe et al.

    A 2600-year record of past polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) deposition at Holzmaar (Eifel, Germany)

    Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeocl

    (2014)
  • A O Barakat et al.

    Spatial distribution and temporal trends of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in sediments from Lake Maryut, Alexandria, Egypt

    Water Air Soil Pollut

    (2011)
  • Bureau of Statistics of Wuxi City

    Wuxi, China (in Chinese)

  • Bureau of Statistics of Wuxi City

    Wuxi, China (in Chinese)

  • J Cai et al.

    Occurrence and source apportionment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soils and sediment from Hanfeng Lake, Three Gorges, China

    J Environ Sci Heal A

    (2017)
  • Y X Cao et al.

    Spatiotemporal distribution, source, and ecological risk of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the urbanized semi-enclosed Jiaozhou Bay, China

    Sci Total Environ

    (2020)
  • T Hadibarata et al.

    Abundance and distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in sediments of the Mahakam River

    Mar Pollut Bull

    (2019)
  • Cited by (0)

    View full text