Notes fr Presentation at SETAC Meeting on November 1.docVIP

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in riverine runoff of the Pearl River Delta, China Ji-Zhong Wanga,c, Yun-Feng Niea,c, Yu-Feng, Guana,c, Hong-Gang Nia,c, Feng-Hui-Lua,c, Xian-Lin Luob, Eddy Y. Zenga,* a State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Science, Guangzhou 510640, China b School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China c Graduate School, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China Abstract A systematic study on measure of PAHs in water from eight outlets of the Pearl River Delta (PRD) based on monthly sampling collected in a span of 1 year was carried out. The results showed the total concentrations of PAHs in water phase plus suspended particle matter (SPM) ranged from 55.5 to 521.9 ng/L, which were compared with other rivers and estuaries. Fingerprints characters were calculated to discuss the sources of PAHs. No clear temporal and spatial trends of PAH concentrations were found. However, concentrations of PAHs associated to SPM have a relation in agreement with the monthly precipitation of Guangzhou, which implicated the importance of bulk atmospheric deposition, special for wet deposition. Normalized partition coefficient (Koc) between water and suspended particle matter (SPM) was calculated correlated with their octanol-water partition coefficient (Kow). Further analysis by hierarchical cluster analysis was carried out to group these eight outlets. Keywords: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; Source; Koc; hierarchical cluster analysis 1. Introduction Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a class of organic chemicals composed of benzene rings, and known to be widespread in the environment, persistence, prevalence and their toxicity to the ecosystem and human being. Therefore, 16 PAHs have been listed as priority pollutants by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the European Community. PAHs have suffered to been in