Speciation and source apportionment of polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) in sediments of the largest salt water lake of Australia.
Great ecological and human health risks may arise from the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in aquatic environments and particularly in sediments, where they often partition. In spite of the apparent risk, knowledge about PAHs and their polar derivatives in sediments is limited. We, therefore, carried out an assessment of the concentrations of parent PAHs and their derivatives (polar PAHs) in sediments of Lake Macquarie: the largest saltwater lake in the southern hemisphere. A total of 31 sediment samples along the pollution prone western shoreline of the estuary were analysed. Multiple source apportionment methods were used to investigate PAH sources contributing to parent and polar PAH concentrations in the estuarine sediments. Concentration levels were highest for high molecular weight (HMW) PAHs compared to low molecular weight (LMW) PAHs. The highest PAH concentrations were recorded for oxygenated PAHs (oxy-PAHs) compared to parent and other polar PAHs. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon diagnostic ratios and compositional analysis showed that PAHs in Lake Macquarie were predominantly pyrogenic exhibiting strong positive correlation (R2 = 0.972) with total PAH concentrations. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) identified three groupings of PAHs with oxy-PAHs and NPAHs dominating (40.2%). Carbazole, a heterocyclic PAH, was also a prominent contributor to sediment PAH concentrations. Atmospheric deposition, coal combustion and vehicular emissions were implicated as the major contributors to sediment pollution.
['Idowu|Oluyoye|O|', 'Carbery|Maddison|M|', "O'Connor|Wayne|W|", 'Thavamani|Palanisami|P|']
D001315:Australia D003031:Coal D004784:Environmental Monitoring D063366:Estuaries D019015:Geologic Sediments D006801:Humans D060106:Lakes D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons D011083:Polycyclic Compounds D025341:Principal Component Analysis D012965:Sodium Chloride D001335:Vehicle Emissions D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
Source apportionment Sediments Polar PAHs PCA Risk assessment