Sedimentary Record of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the Gulf of Trieste (Northern Adriatic Sea)

Abstract

To reconstruct a history of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) pollution in the Gulf of Trieste, one of the largest urbanized areas in the Adriatic Sea, we analyzed three long sediment cores collected between 1996 and 1997. Concentrations of total PAHs, the sum of 16 PAH compounds and six of their methylated analogues, in all three cores show a decrease from 600-800 ng g −1 , at the surface, to levels below 250 ng g −1 in deepest layers (down to 3 m). The same trend was shown with separate representative pyrogenic PAHs (pyrene, benzofluoranthene and phenanthrene). Using Hg as a recent geochronological tracer, we observe an increasing input of PAHs since the beginning of the 20th Century and, especially, after the Second World War coinciding with increasing industrialization and urbanization of the region. This correlation is supported by PAH ratios that are indication of combustion processes and represent a marker for anthropogenic inputs. No correlation exists between PAHs and black carbon within the core profiles, indicating two different fractions of the 'black carbon continuum'.

Origin and Distribution of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Surface Water of Suez Gulf

“…Generally, the most abundant 2-3 ring compounds of phenanthrene, anthracene, acenaphthene and naphthalene were present in both summer and winter season samples. Predominance of low molecular weight PAH (2-3 ring PAHs) over high molecular weight PAHs (4-6 ring PAHs) in seawater is in accordance with some other studies (25) . 2-3ring PAHs showed dominance at S.NO (2, 7, 8 & 3), respectively, with percentage between 0.09 to 98.9%for summer water samples (…”

A complex investigation of the extent of pollution in sediments of the Sava River: part 2: persistent organic pollutants

“…The procedure is described in details elsewhere (Heath et al 2006). In PAH analysis, an ISCO (Lincoln, NE, USA) supercritical fluid extractor (SFX2-10) was adopted (Notar and Leskovšek 2000).…”

“…Disposable 10-mL high temperature crystalline polymer extraction cartridges (ISCO, Lincoln, NE, USA) packed with 5 g of sediment sample and 2 g (or the mass needed to fill up the cartridge volume) of sodium sulfate or wetsupport™ (ISCO, Lincoln, NE, USA). The ASE-SFE extraction procedure with a total extraction time of 30 min is presented in detail elsewhere (Heath et al 2006). The method validation is also described in full elsewhere (Notar and Leskovšek 2000).…”

Trace metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the Eastern Mediterranean sediments: Concentration ranges as a tool for quality control of large data collections

“…Procedures used for PAHs extraction to derive background levels and ranges in offshore and coastal sediments were based on pure solvent or a mixture of solvents (n-hexane, hexane/acetone, or dichloromethane/ methanol) usually with a Soxhlet apparatus (Bihari et al, 2006;Botsou and Hatzianestis, 2012;Cardellicchio et al, 2007;Caricchia et al, 1993;Gogou et al, 2000;Hatzianestis et al, 2004Hatzianestis et al, , 2020Tsapakis et al, 2010). In a few selected cases the extraction was carried out with dichloromethane by Accelerated Solvent Extraction (ASE) (Azoury et al, 2013;Combi et al, 2020;Mandić et al, 2018;Mandic and Vrancic, 2017) or by ASE and Supercritic Fluid Extraction (SFE) (Heath et al, 2006;Notar et al, 2001). After purification of the extracts, PAHs were determined in most of the cases by Gas Chromatography -Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) (Azoury et al, 2013;Botsou and Hatzianestis, 2012;Cardellicchio et al, 2007;Gogou et al, 2000;Hatzianestis et al, 2004Hatzianestis et al, , 2020Mandic and Vrancic, 2017;Notar et al, 2001;Parinos et al, 2013;Tsapakis et al, 2010), or by Gas Chromatography coupled to a Flame Ionization Detector (GC-FID) and GC-MS (Zaghden et al, 2017) or by HPLC with a fluorescence detector (Caricchia et al, 1993) or by a fluorescence and UV detector (Bihari et al, 2006).…”

“…Background Concentrations for trace metals in sediments of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea (μg kg − 1 dry weight), based on the following references: Angelidis et al, 2011;Azoury et al, 2013;Barra et al, 2020;Covelli and Fontolan, 1997;Frignani et al, 2005;Giani et al, 1994;Heath et al, 2006;Ilijanić et al, 2014;Karageorgis et al, 2005aKarageorgis et al, , 2020Lopes-Rocha et al, 2017a;Lucchini et al, 2003;Ogrinc et al, 2007;Oliveri et al, 2013;Van Santvoort et al, 1996 could arise from physico-chemical characteristics of the sediments (e.g. grain size), however, the considered literature did not provide sufficient information on sample granulometry and on ancillary parameters normally used in the normalization procedures to ascertain this aspect.…”