Forest fires as drivers of contamination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems

Campos, Isabel; Abrantes, Nélson

doi:10.1016/j.coesh.2021.100293

Cited by 36 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 53 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Similarly, wildfires are an important source of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. 35 In addition, violations of exposure limits for nitrates, disinfection byproducts, and arsenic in surface and groundwater have been observed in wildfireaffected areas. 8 Widespread drinking water distributionnetwork contamination was also discovered following several fires in California, USA, where concentrations of benzene and other volatile organic compounds (at least partially from the melting of plastic water pipes) were found to be higher than exposure limits.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term exposure to wildfires and cancer incidence in Canada: a population-based observational cohort study

Korsiak

Pinault

Christidis

et al. 2022

The Lancet Planetary Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term exposure to wildfires and cancer incidence in Canada: a population-based observational cohort study

Korsiak

Pinault

Christidis

et al. 2022

The Lancet Planetary Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Few studies have focused on the concentrations of PAHs in surface waters following wildfire and the potential detrimental effects on aquatic organisms because, as outlined in the prior section, much of the research has instead focused on industrial or urban areas. However, as wildfires increase throughout parts of the globe, there has been growing interest in understanding watershed impacts (Campos and Abrantes, 2021). Following the Kilmore East-Murrurundi Complex fire (260,000 ha) near Melbourne, Australia, Schäfer et al (2010) used passive silicon samplers to determine PAH concentrations in surface water.…”

Section: Wildfire-derived Pahs In Watermentioning

confidence: 99%

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in terrestrial and aquatic environments following wildfire: a review

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Wildfires are a natural landscape disturbance in many climates and forest types, but the cumulative impact of human-caused climate change, historical fire management and suppression, and changing species diversity in forests has led to an increase in the size and/or severity of wildfires in certain regions across the globe. There are a significant number of research studies on the effects of wildfire on human health, forest ecology, hydrology, and the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soils. However, research on the impact of wildfire on watersheds including toxicity in aquatic organisms, water chemistry, and fluvial sediment quality is less extensive, focusing primarily on water quality indicators such as nutrients and sediment flux. Recent research has shown that wildfires contribute to the environment significant amounts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are compounds produced during the incomplete combustion of organic material, and are known to be toxic and mutagenic compounds. The primary objective of this paper is to review the recent literature that pertains to the contamination of surface waters and sediments, and source apportionment of wildfire-derived PAHs to determine where research gaps remain. Additional objectives are to assess the use of molecular ratios to apportion PAH sources, and finally, to create a roadmap for future studies in designing and conducting research that seeks to determine sources of wildfire-derived PAHs in water and sediment.

show abstract

“…Wildfires produce a variety of airborne pollutants including particulate matter, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, ground-level ozone, trace metals, and polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs). , PACs comprise unsubstituted (parent) species (PAC parent ), alkylated species (PAC alkyl ), and sulfur-bearing dibenzothiophenes (DBTs), some of which are carcinogenic and/or mutagenic . Deposition of fire-derived PACs to both local and afield landscapes can be a source of these toxicants to surface waters following runoff events and have been shown to negatively affect surface water quality and the health integrity of aquatic ecosystems. , …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…12 Deposition of fire-derived PACs to both local and afield landscapes can be a source of these toxicants to surface waters following runoff events 13 and have been shown to negatively affect surface water quality and the health integrity of aquatic ecosystems. 14,15 Petrogenic materials are also key sources of PACs to aquatic ecosystems. 16 Northeastern Alberta hosts Canadian oil sands operations where multiple bitumen (also known as tar sands or oil sands) mining and upgrading operations exist.…”

Section: ■ Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds in Rivers Dominated by Petrogenic Sources after a Boreal Megafire

Cooke

Emmerton

et al. 2022

Environ. Sci. Technol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) threaten the health of aquatic ecosystems. In northeastern Alberta, Canada, decades of oil sands mining and upgrading activities have increased PAC delivery into freshwaters. This PAC pollution adds to natural inputs from river erosion of bitumen-bearing McMurray Formation outcrops and wildfire inputs. Quantifying these petrogenic and pyrogenic PAC inputs, which is key for understanding industrial impacts, remains a challenge. To distinguish petrogenic from pyrogenic inputs, we characterized river water PACs before and after the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire, one of the largest natural disasters in Canadian history. Samples of wildfire ash and outcropping bitumen allow us to distinguish between these important PAC sources. River PAC concentrations ranged over multiple orders of magnitude (10s–10 000s ng/L). Petrogenic PACs dominated most of the postfire period with only short-term episodes of pyrogenic signatures in burned watersheds due to the wash-in of ash from the watershed. Wildfire PAC inputs during these events resulted in exceptional increases in concentrations that met or exceeded high (petrogenic) background concentrations, driven by the natural erosion of outcropping bitumen. Our dataset offers the first quantification of these two important PAC sources in this industrialized region and provides new insight into the impacts of increasing wildfire frequency and severity across the Boreal Forest.

show abstract

Forest fires as drivers of contamination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems

Cited by 36 publications

References 53 publications

Long-term exposure to wildfires and cancer incidence in Canada: a population-based observational cohort study

Long-term exposure to wildfires and cancer incidence in Canada: a population-based observational cohort study

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in terrestrial and aquatic environments following wildfire: a review

Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds in Rivers Dominated by Petrogenic Sources after a Boreal Megafire

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About