Variations in the concentration, source and flux of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediments of the Pearl River Estuary: Implications for anthropogenic impacts

Yali Li; Nairong Guo; Ke Yuan; Baowei Chen; Junjie Wang; Maofeng Hua; Jing Yu; Jingyan Hu; Run Lu; Shichun Zou; Ying Yang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160870

Variations in the concentration, source and flux of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediments of the Pearl River Estuary: Implications for anthropogenic impacts

Yali Li, Nairong Guo, Ke Yuan, Baowei Chen, Junjie Wang, Maofeng Hua, Jing Yu, Jingyan Hu, Run Lu, Shichun Zou, Ying Yang

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Variations in the distribution, source composition, mass inventory and burial flux of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in surface sediments from the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) collected in 2011 and 2019 were analyzed to investigate the influence of the anthropogenic activities. Total concentrations of 16 priority PAHs in 2019 (200.40 ± 188.86 ng g⁻¹ dry weight on average) were at the medium level among global bays/estuaries/coastal areas. In 2019, PAH concentrations have decreased by about 50% compared to 2011 and the dominant composition has changed from low- to high-molecular-weight PAHs. The qualitative and quantitative source apportionment analysis indicates that the dominant source of PAHs has shifted from petroleum (40.33%) in 2011 to traffic emission (44.17%) in 2019. The source variation in the PRE can be attributed to the transformation of the energy source structure from petrogenic to pyrogenic in the Pearl River Delta. The estimated PAH mass inventory of the top 5-cm sediment was 38.70 metric tons in 2019, which was about 41 metric tons lower than that in 2011. The average deposition fluxes have dropped from 418.91 ± 261.02 ng cm⁻² yr⁻¹ in 2011 to 215.52 ± 246.63 ng cm⁻² yr⁻¹ in 2019. The decreasing PAH concentration is related to the sediment coarsening and decline of total organic carbon. These findings in the PRE can be applied to other estuarine environments influenced by anthropogenic activities.

Original language	English
Article number	160870
Pages (from-to)	1-10
Number of pages	10
Journal	Science of the Total Environment
Volume	862
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160870
Publication status	Published - 1 Mar 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022

Funding

This study was supported by the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (NO.2019A1515110248), National Natural Science Foundation of China (NO. 42175118), Key-Area Research and Development Program of Guangdong Province (NO. 2020B1111020002), 2019 Guangzhou Innovation and Entrepreneurship Leader Team (NO. 201909010008) and funding from the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science through the Netherlands Earth System Science Center (NESSC) (J.W.). We acknowledged Dr. Heng Zhang, Dr. Lei Zhu and Dr. Xiao Ma of Sun Yat-sen University for their support in sedimentary regime analysis and proof reading. We were also grateful to Xiaomin Wang, Junxin Wang, Shuangni Wei of Sun Yat-sen University for their efforts in chemical analysis. This study was supported by the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (NO. 2019A1515110248 ), National Natural Science Foundation of China (NO. 42175118 ), Key-Area Research and Development Program of Guangdong Province (NO. 2020B1111020002 ), 2019 Guangzhou Innovation and Entrepreneurship Leader Team (NO. 201909010008 ) and funding from the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science through the Netherlands Earth System Science Center (NESSC) (J.W.). We acknowledged Dr. Heng Zhang, Dr. Lei Zhu and Dr. Xiao Ma of Sun Yat-sen University for their support in sedimentary regime analysis and proof reading. We were also grateful to Xiaomin Wang, Junxin Wang, Shuangni Wei of Sun Yat-sen University for their efforts in chemical analysis.

Funders	Funder number
Dr. Xiao Ma of Sun Yat-sen University
Guangzhou Innovation and Entrepreneurship Leader Team	201909010008
National Natural Science Foundation of China	42175118
Sun Yat-Sen University
Ministerie van onderwijs, cultuur en wetenschap
Netherlands Earth System Science Centre
Special Project for Research and Development in Key areas of Guangdong Province	2020B1111020002
Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation of Guangdong Province	2019A1515110248

Keywords

Deposition flux
Mass inventory
PAHs
Pearl River Estuary
Sediments
Source composition

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10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160870

1-s2.0-S0048969722079736-mainFinal published version, 3.21 MBLicence: Taverne

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Li, Y., Guo, N., Yuan, K., Chen, B., Wang, J., Hua, M., Yu, J., Hu, J., Lu, R., Zou, S., & Yang, Y. (2023). Variations in the concentration, source and flux of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediments of the Pearl River Estuary: Implications for anthropogenic impacts. Science of the Total Environment, 862, 1-10. Article 160870. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160870

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title = "Variations in the concentration, source and flux of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediments of the Pearl River Estuary: Implications for anthropogenic impacts",

abstract = "Variations in the distribution, source composition, mass inventory and burial flux of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in surface sediments from the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) collected in 2011 and 2019 were analyzed to investigate the influence of the anthropogenic activities. Total concentrations of 16 priority PAHs in 2019 (200.40 ± 188.86 ng g−1 dry weight on average) were at the medium level among global bays/estuaries/coastal areas. In 2019, PAH concentrations have decreased by about 50% compared to 2011 and the dominant composition has changed from low- to high-molecular-weight PAHs. The qualitative and quantitative source apportionment analysis indicates that the dominant source of PAHs has shifted from petroleum (40.33%) in 2011 to traffic emission (44.17%) in 2019. The source variation in the PRE can be attributed to the transformation of the energy source structure from petrogenic to pyrogenic in the Pearl River Delta. The estimated PAH mass inventory of the top 5-cm sediment was 38.70 metric tons in 2019, which was about 41 metric tons lower than that in 2011. The average deposition fluxes have dropped from 418.91 ± 261.02 ng cm−2 yr−1 in 2011 to 215.52 ± 246.63 ng cm−2 yr−1 in 2019. The decreasing PAH concentration is related to the sediment coarsening and decline of total organic carbon. These findings in the PRE can be applied to other estuarine environments influenced by anthropogenic activities.",

keywords = "Deposition flux, Mass inventory, PAHs, Pearl River Estuary, Sediments, Source composition",

author = "Yali Li and Nairong Guo and Ke Yuan and Baowei Chen and Junjie Wang and Maofeng Hua and Jing Yu and Jingyan Hu and Run Lu and Shichun Zou and Ying Yang",

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doi = "10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160870",

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Li, Y, Guo, N, Yuan, K, Chen, B, Wang, J, Hua, M, Yu, J, Hu, J, Lu, R, Zou, S & Yang, Y 2023, 'Variations in the concentration, source and flux of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediments of the Pearl River Estuary: Implications for anthropogenic impacts', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 862, 160870, pp. 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160870

TY - JOUR

T1 - Variations in the concentration, source and flux of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediments of the Pearl River Estuary

T2 - Implications for anthropogenic impacts

AU - Li, Yali

AU - Guo, Nairong

AU - Yuan, Ke

AU - Chen, Baowei

AU - Wang, Junjie

AU - Hua, Maofeng

AU - Yu, Jing

AU - Hu, Jingyan

AU - Lu, Run

AU - Zou, Shichun

AU - Yang, Ying

PY - 2023/3/1

Y1 - 2023/3/1

N2 - Variations in the distribution, source composition, mass inventory and burial flux of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in surface sediments from the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) collected in 2011 and 2019 were analyzed to investigate the influence of the anthropogenic activities. Total concentrations of 16 priority PAHs in 2019 (200.40 ± 188.86 ng g−1 dry weight on average) were at the medium level among global bays/estuaries/coastal areas. In 2019, PAH concentrations have decreased by about 50% compared to 2011 and the dominant composition has changed from low- to high-molecular-weight PAHs. The qualitative and quantitative source apportionment analysis indicates that the dominant source of PAHs has shifted from petroleum (40.33%) in 2011 to traffic emission (44.17%) in 2019. The source variation in the PRE can be attributed to the transformation of the energy source structure from petrogenic to pyrogenic in the Pearl River Delta. The estimated PAH mass inventory of the top 5-cm sediment was 38.70 metric tons in 2019, which was about 41 metric tons lower than that in 2011. The average deposition fluxes have dropped from 418.91 ± 261.02 ng cm−2 yr−1 in 2011 to 215.52 ± 246.63 ng cm−2 yr−1 in 2019. The decreasing PAH concentration is related to the sediment coarsening and decline of total organic carbon. These findings in the PRE can be applied to other estuarine environments influenced by anthropogenic activities.

AB - Variations in the distribution, source composition, mass inventory and burial flux of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in surface sediments from the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) collected in 2011 and 2019 were analyzed to investigate the influence of the anthropogenic activities. Total concentrations of 16 priority PAHs in 2019 (200.40 ± 188.86 ng g−1 dry weight on average) were at the medium level among global bays/estuaries/coastal areas. In 2019, PAH concentrations have decreased by about 50% compared to 2011 and the dominant composition has changed from low- to high-molecular-weight PAHs. The qualitative and quantitative source apportionment analysis indicates that the dominant source of PAHs has shifted from petroleum (40.33%) in 2011 to traffic emission (44.17%) in 2019. The source variation in the PRE can be attributed to the transformation of the energy source structure from petrogenic to pyrogenic in the Pearl River Delta. The estimated PAH mass inventory of the top 5-cm sediment was 38.70 metric tons in 2019, which was about 41 metric tons lower than that in 2011. The average deposition fluxes have dropped from 418.91 ± 261.02 ng cm−2 yr−1 in 2011 to 215.52 ± 246.63 ng cm−2 yr−1 in 2019. The decreasing PAH concentration is related to the sediment coarsening and decline of total organic carbon. These findings in the PRE can be applied to other estuarine environments influenced by anthropogenic activities.

KW - Deposition flux

KW - Mass inventory

KW - PAHs

KW - Pearl River Estuary

KW - Sediments

KW - Source composition

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DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160870

M3 - Article

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VL - 862

SP - 1

EP - 10

JO - Science of the Total Environment

JF - Science of the Total Environment

M1 - 160870

ER -

Variations in the concentration, source and flux of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediments of the Pearl River Estuary: Implications for anthropogenic impacts

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

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