Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Potentially Toxic Elements in Soils of the Vicinity of the Bulgarian Antarctic Station “St. Kliment Ohridski” (Antarctic Peninsula)

Abstract

The investigation conducted was dialed to quantitative and qualitative evaluation of 15 priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and Potentially Toxic Elements (Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, Ni, and Cr) is soils and cryoconites on “St. Kliment Ohridski” Antarctic station territory and its vicinities. Estimation of benzo(a)pyrene (BaP)–equivalents, PAHs and different PAHs isomer pair ratios were used for identification of general toxicity, nature and origin of individual PAHs and their groups. Total concentrations of PAHs in BaP–equivalents showed, that ∑15PAH of all selected points was higher than the threshold concentration (20 μg × kg−1–Russian environmental legislation) for benzo(a)pyrene. Different PAHs isomer ratios showed the natural (petrogenic) source of PAHs at all soils examples (except Cryosol Toxic Transportic). The maximum content among potentially toxic elements was recorded for Zn (75.7 mg × kg−1 at L26), the minimum for Cd (0.201 mg × kg−1 at L1A). Average concentrations of potentially toxic elements are generally lower compared to the results of previous studies. Application of Igeo index, characterizes the majority of the studied soils as unpolluted or practically unpolluted. Data obtained indicates that there is no current critical anthropogenic load on the environmental components of the landscapes investigated.

Concentration of Trace Elements in Cryoconites of Mountain and Polar Regions of the World

“…Local contamination is typical only for transport arteries and polar station sites [19]. The increased portion of zinc was documented for soils of polar station Kliment Orhidsky, Livingstone Island [48]; thus, our data confirmed these results.…”

“…As a result of glacier retreat, cryoconite dust brought here via water currents is deposited on moraine sediments, which plays an important role in primary soil formation [4]. Cryoconite material is a significant source of carbon and nitrogen under conditions of poorly developed soil formation and serves as a catalyst for soil formation in areas freed from glaciers [34,48]. Soil formation could take centuries under conditions in which cryoconite dust did not enter moraine sediments, but if the cryoconite dust is contaminated with trace elements, the process could take even longer.…”

“…The Pimpirev glacier (S62 • 36 36 , W60 • 24 37 ) is located on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands (West Antarctica), located south of the glacial watershed between the Drake Passage and Bransfield Strait, southeast of the Tunja glacier, southwest of the Saedinenie Snowfield, west of the Perunica glacier, and east-northeast of the Kamchia glacier. The glacier extended for 5.5 km in the southeast-northwest direction and for 1.8 km in the north-west-south-east direction as of 2009 [48]. The glacier flows in a southeasterly direction toward Pimpirev Beach, mostly ending at the shore, and in some cases penetrating into the waters of South Bay, east-northeast of Erebi Point.…”

The Content of Polyarenes in Soils of Antarctica: Variability across Landscapes

“…The calculation of benz[a]pyrene equivalents (BaPYR-equivalents) is the product of the PAH concentration by its toxic equivalency factor (TEF); the values of these factors are published by Nisbet [35]. The possibility of calculating these factors for the Antarctica soils was explained in the work earlier [36].…”

Pseudomonas and Pseudarthrobacter are the key players in synergistic phenanthrene biodegradation at low temperatures

“…They found that phenanthrene accounted for a high proportion, with concentrations ranging from 1.95 to 42.18 ng/g, representing 24–50% of the total PAHs. The concentrations of PAHs in soil from the vicinity of the Bulgarian Antarctic Station (St. Kliment Ohridski) were studied by Abakumov et al 9 . In these works, the concentration of PAHs in soils ranged from 170 to 200 μg/kg.…”