TY - JOUR
T1 - Biological risk and pollution history of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Nansha mangrove, South China
AU - Wu, Qihang
AU - Leung, Jonathan Y.S.
AU - Tam, Nora F.Y.
AU - Chen, Shejun
AU - Mai, Bixian
AU - Zhou, Xizhen
AU - Xia, Lihua
AU - Geng, Xinhua
N1 - Funding Information:
This project was supported by Guangzhou Science and Technology Project (No. 11C72010683 ) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41121063 , 41203058 and 41101456 ).
PY - 2014/8/15
Y1 - 2014/8/15
N2 - Chinese government has taken various measures to alleviate pollution caused by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the region of Pearl River Delta since the economic reform in 1978, but the effectiveness of these measures remains largely unknown. This study aimed to elucidate the biological risk and pollution history of PAHs by measuring the concentrations of 28 PAHs in the surface and core sediments, respectively, in Nansha mangrove. Results found that the biological risk of PAHs was low without obvious spatial variation. The PAH concentration along the depth gradient indicated that PAH pollution was stabilized since the early 1990s while the source of PAHs has gradually changed from combustion of coal to petroleum products. This implied that the mitigation measures taken by the Chinese government were effective. Compared to marine bottom sediment, we propose that using mangrove sediment can provide a more accurate and precise estimate of pollution history of PAHs.
AB - Chinese government has taken various measures to alleviate pollution caused by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the region of Pearl River Delta since the economic reform in 1978, but the effectiveness of these measures remains largely unknown. This study aimed to elucidate the biological risk and pollution history of PAHs by measuring the concentrations of 28 PAHs in the surface and core sediments, respectively, in Nansha mangrove. Results found that the biological risk of PAHs was low without obvious spatial variation. The PAH concentration along the depth gradient indicated that PAH pollution was stabilized since the early 1990s while the source of PAHs has gradually changed from combustion of coal to petroleum products. This implied that the mitigation measures taken by the Chinese government were effective. Compared to marine bottom sediment, we propose that using mangrove sediment can provide a more accurate and precise estimate of pollution history of PAHs.
KW - Biological risk
KW - Economic development
KW - Mangrove
KW - Pollution history
KW - Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
KW - Sediment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84905739416&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.06.014
DO - 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.06.014
M3 - Article
C2 - 24981104
AN - SCOPUS:84905739416
SN - 0025-326X
VL - 85
SP - 92
EP - 98
JO - Marine Pollution Bulletin
JF - Marine Pollution Bulletin
IS - 1
ER -
