title: Occurrence of brominated flame retardants (BFRs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in agricultural soils in a BFR-manufacturing region of North China.
abstract: We investigated the occurrence of brominated flame retardants (BFRs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the surface soils from the largest BFR-manufacturing and vegetable farming center (Shouguang) of North China. The total concentrations of BFRs ranged from 39.9 to 8,145 ng/g dry weight with a mean of 1,947 ng/g. The BFRs were dominated by decabromodiphenylethane (deca-BDEs) and tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA), with means of 1127 and 672 ng/g, respectively, followed by decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE) (111 ng/g) and hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCD) (37.5 ng/g). This profile was generally consistent with the BFR production and use in China, except for TBBPA. Although the lower brominated BDEs (tri- through hepta-BDEs) in the soil may originate from technical deca-BDE mixtures as trace impurities and/or from the degradation of deca-BDEs, deca-BDE was shown to be persistent in the soil. The concentrations of OCPs (44 ng/g) were significantly lower than those of BFRs and displayed a spatial distribution opposite to that of BFRs, which was concentrated in the industrial zone. PCBs (with the lowest levels) showed a relatively uniform spatial distribution because of regional diffusive sources. The mass inventories for the entire land soil (20-cm) were estimated to be 1042, 26, and 3.7 t for BFRs, OCPs, and PCBs, respectively.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Zhi-Cheng
authors.initials: ZC
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China. Electronic address: chenshejun@gig.ac.cn.
authors.forename: She-Jun
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Center for Environmental Health Research, South China Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Guangzhou 510655, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Mi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: An-Hong
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Jun
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China.
authors.forename: Bi-Xian
authors.initials: BX
authors.lastname: Mai
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005411:Flame Retardants / Q000032:analysis*; D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated / Q000032:analysis*; D007221:Industry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010575:Pesticides / Q000032:analysis*; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000032:analysis*; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D005411:Flame Retardants; D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated; D010575:Pesticides; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls
keywords: BFRs; Mass inventory; OCPs; PCBs; Soil; Spatial distribution