Fluxes of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the Seine estuary, France: mass balance and role of atmospheric deposition

Abstract

Measurements of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were carried out from 2001 to 2003 in various environmental compartments (ambient air, atmospheric deposition, soils, sediments, runoff, and surface waters) in the Seine Estuary. The goal of this study was to identify the importance of atmospheric fluxes to occurrence of PAHs in the estuary, and to estimate the major pathways of their transport and accumulation within this ecosystem. The annual atmospheric inputs in the estuary ranged from 2.5 to 16 kg for the first sampling year, which is high when compared to those calculated for other European locations. In parallel, PAH transport from the atmosphere to the watershed outlet was investigated for two rural and urban small experimental watersheds within the Seine Estuary. In rural areas, atmospheric inputs are higher than exported loads by surface water and PAHs are accumulating in soils. The inverse occurs in urban areas, where the contribution of atmospheric deposition is negligible compared with PAH exported loads by runoff. These results allowed us to establish a mass balance for PAHs on the scale of the Seine Estuary, and to determine the dynamics of PAH transport. This study highlights the role of the atmospheric compartment in the transfer of contaminants and the importance of the local PAH inputs within the Seine Estuary.

Role of environmental factors and microorganisms in determining the fate of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the marine environment

“…For example, in highly urbanised areas, the urban and storm waters are the most significant PAH inputs, as shown for the Seine Estuary in France (Motelay-Massei et al. 2007), Tokyo Bay in Japan (Pan et al. 2014) and the estuaries of Massachusetts in the USA (Menzie et al.…”

Assessment of sperm DNA integrity within the Palaemon longirostris (H. ) population of the Seine estuary

“…The perpetual chemical overflow of contaminants of the Seine River, added to the remobilisation of contaminants linked with the hydro-sedimentary function, the maritime and fluvial traffic which requires a daily dredging, the industrial past and the important intake of the upstream watershed of this estuary together make this estuary largely affected by a wide range of contaminants (Cailleaud et al, 2007a, b). This estuary is therefore particularly prone to genotoxic pressure since the Seine River receives inputs of a large variety of micro-pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) (Motelay-Massei et al 2007), trace metals (Grosbois et al 2006) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) (Meybeck et al 2004).…”

A multipoint (49 points) study of dry deposition of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Erzurum, Turkey by using surrogated snow surface samplers

“…It was stated in previous studies that fuels used for various heating types are among the natural and anthropogenic sources emitting the largest amount of PAHs into urban atmosphere, which is followed by city vehicle traffic (Paloluoğlu et al 2013). Resulting from their properties of semi-volatility and permanence, PAHs released from a source into the atmosphere can be transported to considerably long distances of thousands of kilometers via atmospheric processes (Motelay-Massei et al 2007;Terzi and Samara 2005).…”