Correspondence on “Sediment Sources and Sealed-Pavement Area Drive Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon and Metal Occurrence in Urban Streams”

Rebuttal to Correspondence on “Sediment Sources and Sealed-Pavement Area Drive Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon and Metal Occurrence in Urban Streams”

“…In their second paragraph, O’Reilly and Jaffé question our definition of “pavement dust”. The definition of pavement dust provided in the paper was “dust and other mobile particulates on impervious surfaces (“pavement dust”)”.…”

“…Instead, we encourage them to publish their interpretations in a peer-reviewed journal where their approach can be fully explained and reviewed. Below, we address each point in O’Reilly and Jaffé following the order in which the comments were presented.…”

“…O’Reilly and Jaffé in the first paragraph of their comment suggest our hypothesis is, “... refined tar pavement sealant (RTS), identified as coal-tar pavement sealer (CTS), is an important source of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) to urban sediments”. This contrasts with the hypothesis we presented, which was stated in the paper.…”

“…There are many urban sources of dust that might accumulate on pavement, in addition to the most likely source of that dust, that being the pavement or asphalt itself. O’Reilly and Jaffé suggest we should have used the word “urban dust”; however, we find this term to include other kinds of surfaces in the urban environment, and therefore, it is too broad. We maintain that we clearly defined what “pavement dust” is and uphold our use of the term.…”

“…In the third paragraph, O’Reilly and Jaffé report comparisons of the NE, SE, and NW data sets. We agree that other factors are important such as how PAHs are applied in each region.…”