Levels, temporal/spatial variations and sources of PAHs and PCBs in soil of a highly industrialized area

Abstract

Soil can be accepted as environmental medium which indicating the level and spatial distribution of POPs coming from different air pollution sources. In this study, monthly soil samples were collected at 23 sites during one year for the investigation of PAHs and PCBs in Dilovasi region which is the district of Kocaeli and is considered to be the center of industry in Turkey. Both PAHs and PCBs concentrations displayed great variability. ?<inf>15</inf>PAH concentrations were found between 49 and 10,512 ?g/kg (in dry weight) (avg ± sd; 992 ± 1323 ?g/kg), and ?<inf>41</inf>PCB concentrations were found between 0.83 and 239 ?g/kg (in dry weight) (avg ± sd; 18.8 ± 32.0 ?g/kg). As sampling points were grouped according to their sectors, the average ?<inf>15</inf>PAH concentrations were found to be 738 ± 444 ?g/kg, 1017 ± 515 ?g/kg and 1141 ± 835 ?g/kg for suburban, urban and industrial areas, respectively, and the average ?<inf>41</inf>PCB concentrations were found to be 3.95 ± 1.08 ?g/kg, 10.02 ± 2.1 ?g/kg and 32.75 ± 34.2 ?g/kg for suburban, urban and industrial areas, respectively. According to the results of the PMF, it was observed that the traffic, domestic heating and industrial activities were the sources of the PAHs, industrial activities were the sources of the PCBs in the soil of Dilovasi. The average benzo(a)pyrene equivalent concentration of carcinogenic PAHs was found to be 472.2 ± 730.26 ?g kg?1. Therefore, Dilovasi soil posed a potential risk to human health. On the other hand, calculated TEQ concentrations of soil samples were below the limit value according to the Canadian Soil Quality Standard. © 2019 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.