Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Feb 21;17(4):1390.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17041390.

Distribution, Origins and Hazardous Effects of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Topsoil Surrounding Oil Fields: A Case Study on the Loess Plateau, China

Di Wang  1 , Shilei Zhu  1 , Lijing Wang  1 , Qing Zhen  2   3 , Fengpeng Han  2   3 , Xingchang Zhang  2   3   4
Affiliations

Distribution, Origins and Hazardous Effects of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Topsoil Surrounding Oil Fields: A Case Study on the Loess Plateau, China

Di Wang et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The Loess Plateau has one of the most vulnerable ecological environments in the world, but it also contains abundant oil and gas resources that are regularly exploited, which has resulted in serious environmental problems. Therefore, it is important to analyze the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) present in the topsoil of this region. The ∑16PAHs concentrations between 1980-1999 and 2000-2019 ranged from 1134.20-15871.04 and 1010.67-18,068.80 µg kg-1, with average values of 5021.30 and 5662.82 µg kg-1. All samples displayed heavy pollution levels according to European soil quality standards. In addition, among the measured physicochemical properties, the soil organic carbon (SOC) had the greatest influence on PAHs, while soil particle size distribution had the smallest effect. Source apportionment indicated that the two main sources were petroleum source (37.57%) and vehicular traffic source (25.88%). Lastly, an assessment of the carcinogenic risks illustrated that more focus should be placed on the dermal pathway in which the human body is exposed to soil PAHs. Overall, the carcinogenic risks in different populations did not exceed 10-4, but there was still a potential carcinogenic risk in some age groups, especially in adult women.

Keywords: PAHs; PMF; distribution; human health risk; sources.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared they have no conflict of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Map of the study area.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Concentrations of PAHs in soil samples.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Triangular diagram of percentage concentrations for 16PAHs in soil samples.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Principal component analysis (PCA) of the correlation between PAHs and soil physicochemical properties. All the PAHs abbreviations used are explained in Supplementary Table S1.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Results of the Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) model: (a) Source profiles of each PMF factor and (b) percentage source contributions of each factor to total PAHs. All the PAHs abbreviations used are explained in Supplementary Table S1.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Nadal M., Schuhmacher M., Domingo J.L. Levels of PAHs in soil and vegetation samples from Tarragona County, Spain. Environ. Pollut. 2004;132:1–11. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2004.04.003. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kuang S.P., Wu Z.C., Zhao L.S. Accumulation and risk assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soils around oil sludge in Zhongyuan oil field, China. Environ. Earth Sci. 2011;64:1353–1362. doi: 10.1007/s12665-011-0960-9. - DOI
    1. Yunker M.B., Macdonald R.W., Vingarzan R., Mitchell R.H., Goyette D., Sylvestre S. PAHs in the Fraser River basin: A critical appraisal of PAH ratios as indicators of PAH source and composition. Org. Geochem. 2002;33:489–515. doi: 10.1016/S0146-6380(02)00002-5. - DOI
    1. Chen H.Y., Teng Y.G., Wang J.S. Source apportionment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in surface sediments of the Rizhao coastal area (China) using diagnostic ratios and factor analysis with nonnegative constraints. Sci. Total Environ. 2012;414:293–300. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.10.057. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ciarkowska K., Gambus F., Antonkiewicz J., Koliopoulos T. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon and heavy metal contents in the urban soils in southern Poland. Chemosphere. 2019;229:214–226. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.04.209. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources