PAH, PCB, TPH and mercury in surface sediments of the Delaware River Estuary and Delmarva Peninsula, USA

A W Kim; C H Vane; V Moss-Hayes; S E Engelhart; A C Kemp

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.10.008

PAH, PCB, TPH and mercury in surface sediments of the Delaware River Estuary and Delmarva Peninsula, USA

Mar Pollut Bull. 2018 Apr;129(2):835-845. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.10.008. Epub 2017 Oct 13.

Authors

A W Kim¹, C H Vane², V Moss-Hayes², S E Engelhart³, A C Kemp⁴

Affiliations

¹ British Geological Survey, Kingsley Dunham Centre, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, UK. Electronic address: awk@bgs.ac.uk.
² British Geological Survey, Kingsley Dunham Centre, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, UK.
³ Department of Geosciences, University of Rhode Island, 9 East Alumni Avenue, Kingston, RI 02881, USA.
⁴ Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA.

PMID: 29033171
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.10.008

Abstract

Surface sediment concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) and mercury, were compared from two areas with contrasting land use history, the industrial Delaware Estuary and the rural Delmarva Peninsula (USA). TPH in the Delaware (38-616mg/kg) and saturate/aromatic fractions suggested petroleum/industrial sources compared to biogenic sources in the Delmarva coastal control (<34-159mg/kg). Within the Delaware the ∑PAH18 ranged from 3749 to 22,324μg/kg with isomeric ratios indicative of petroleum combustion source/s, conversely, those in the Delmarva (5-2139μg/kg) also yielded relatively higher perylene that were consistent with natural background levels derived from vegetation/coal combustion source/s. ∑PCB(tri-hepta) concentrations in the Delmarva (0.6-6.5μg/kg) were less than the threshold effect concentration (TEC), whereas the Delaware had received much higher PCB loading (18.1-136.8μg/kg) as evidenced by a significantly higher amounts in some samples (>TEC).

Keywords: Perylene; Polychlorinated biphenyls; Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; Sediment quality guideline values SQG; Total petroleum hydrocarbons.

MeSH terms

Delaware
Environmental Monitoring / methods
Estuaries
Geologic Sediments / chemistry
Mercury / analysis*
Petroleum / analysis*
Polychlorinated Biphenyls / analysis*
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / analysis*
Rivers / chemistry*
Water Pollutants, Chemical / analysis*

Substances

Petroleum
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
Water Pollutants, Chemical
Polychlorinated Biphenyls
Mercury