title: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in urban soils of different land uses in Beijing, China: distribution, sources and their correlation with the city's urbanization history.
abstract: A total of 127 surface soil samples (0-20 cm) were collected from Beijing's urban district and determined for 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The mean concentration of summation SigmaPAHs was 1802.6 ng g(-1) with a standard deviation of 1824.2 ng g(-1). Average summation SigmaPAHs concentration and the percentage of high-molecular weight PAHs (4-6-rings) decreased from inner city to exterior areas. This correlated with the urbanization history of Beijing's urban district and inferred an increasing trend of soil PAHs with accumulation time and age of the urban area. summation SigmaPAHs in different land uses decreased in an order as: culture and education area (CEA)>classical garden (CG), business area (BA)>residential area (RA), roadside area (RSA)>public green space (PGS). PAHs in CEA mainly came from coal combustion, while soils of RSA exhibited clear traffic emission characteristics. PAHs in other land uses came from mixed sources. Principle component analysis followed by multivariate linear regression indicated that coal combustion and vehicle emission contributed about 46.0% and 54.0% to PAHs in Beijing's urban soils, respectively. Risk assessment based on the Canadian soil criterion indicated a low contamination level of PAHs. However, higher contents in some sensitive land uses such as CEA and CG should draw enough attention.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation/School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Shaoda
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Xinghui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Lingyan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Mohai
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Ruimin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D002947:Cities; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis*; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D012987:Soil / Q000032:analysis*; D014507:Urbanization / Q000266:history
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D012987:Soil