title: Characterization, ecological risk assessment and source diagnostics of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in water column of the Yellow River Delta, one of the most plenty biodiversity zones in the world.
abstract: As one of the most active regions of land-ocean interaction among the large river deltas in the world, the Yellow River Delta (YRD) gains increasing concern on its ecological and environmental conditions. However, few studies on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been reported for this area. In this study, the distribution characteristics, probabilistic risk and possible sources of PAHs were investigated in the water column of the YRD. The PAH concentrations were found to be at relatively low or medium levels (121.3 ng L(-1) in water and 209.1n g g(-1) in suspended particulate matter (SPM) on average), and the result of probability risk assessment additionally elucidated low PAH ecological risk in the YRD. The PAH composition showed that low and moderate molecular PAHs were the major species in water phase, whereas the SPM showed a different proportion of each PAH composition. An interesting result was found that low-ring PAHs and salinity in this land-ocean interaction area had a positive relationship (R=0.609). For PAH source identification, both diagnostic ratios of selected PAHs and principal component analysis (PCA) with multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis were studied, suggesting mixed sources of pyrogenic and petrogenic deriving PAHs in the YRD.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, PR China. wency.bnu@163.com
authors.forename: Lili
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhifeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Junfeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.forename: Jingyi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D002681:China; D004463:Ecology; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D016014:Linear Models; D010316:Particle Size; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis*; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D018570:Risk Assessment; D045483:Rivers; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical