title: Biogenic and anthropogenic organic components of Saharan sands.
abstract: Till now, the Sahara desert sands have scarcely characterized for their organic contents, despite they are known to heavily affect Europe and America when transported by winds. In this study, the composition of sands collected in ten oasis lying in two regions of the Algerian Sahara during 2011 was investigated with regards to organic fraction. Attention was paid to anthropogenic and biogenic sources of organics associated to sands, through the characterization of n-alkanes, n-alkanoic and n-alkanedioic acids, n-alkanols, sterols, PAHs and caffeine. The organic fraction load on sands associable to natural sources was higher in the Region of Biskra than in that of Ouargla. The biogenic contribution to the total amount of organics in sands exceeded that of the anthropogenic sources. The composition of sands from Hassi Messaoud, compared to that observed there in 2006, showed that the anthropic impact over the region was not changed.
authors.affiliation: CNR, Institute of Atmospheric Pollution Research, Monterotondo Stazione, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: balducci@iia.cnr.it.
authors.forename: Catia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Balducci
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche Scientifiques et Techniques en Analyses Physico-Chimiques CRAPC, Algiers, Algeria.
authors.forename: Riad
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ladji
authors.affiliation: CNR, Institute of Atmospheric Pollution Research, Monterotondo Stazione, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Muto
authors.affiliation: CNR, Institute of Atmospheric Pollution Research, Monterotondo Stazione, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Romagnoli
authors.affiliation: CDER, Centre de Développement des Energies Renouvelables, BP 62, Route de l'Observatoire, Bouzaréah, Algiers, Algeria; USTHB, University of Sciences and Technology Houari Boumedienne, Faculty of Chemistry, BP 32 El-Alia Bab-Ezzouar, 16111 Algiers, Algeria.
authors.forename: Nourredine
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yassaa
authors.affiliation: CNR, Institute of Atmospheric Pollution Research, Monterotondo Stazione, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cecinato
mesh_terms: D000462:Algeria; D003889:Desert Climate; D005060:Europe; D006802:Human Activities; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000032:analysis*; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D009930:Organic Chemicals; D012822:Silicon Dioxide
keywords: Environmental pollution; Long range transport; Organic fraction; Saharan dusts