title: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and polychlorinated biphenyls in soils of Mayabeque, Cuba.
abstract: Cuba is a country in transition with a considerable potential for economic growth. Soils are recipients and integrators of chemical pollution, a frequent negative side effect of increasing industrial activities. Therefore, we established a soil monitoring network to monitor polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in soils of Mayabeque, a Cuban province southeast of Havana. Concentrations of the sum of the 16 US EPA PAHs and of the seven IRMM PCBs in soils from 39 locations ranged from 20 to 106 μg kg-1and from 1.1 to 7.6 μg kg-1, respectively. While such concentrations can be considered as low overall, they were in several cases correlated with the distance of sampling sites to presumed major emission sources, with some of the concomitantly investigated source diagnostic PAH ratios, and with black carbon content. The presented data adds to the limited information on soil pollution in the Caribbean region and serves as a reference time point before the onset of a possible further industrial development in Cuba. It also forms the basis to set up and adapt national environmental standards.
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Sanidad Agropecuaria (CENSA), Apartado 10, CP 32700, San José de las Lajas, Mayabeque, Cuba.
authors.forename: Dayana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sosa
authors.affiliation: Environmental Analytics, Agroscope, Reckenholzstrasse 191, 8046, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hilber
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Sanidad Agropecuaria (CENSA), Apartado 10, CP 32700, San José de las Lajas, Mayabeque, Cuba.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Faure
authors.affiliation: Environmental Analytics, Agroscope, Reckenholzstrasse 191, 8046, Zurich, Switzerland.|Department of Environmental System Science, ETH Zurich, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Nora
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bartolomé
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Sanidad Agropecuaria (CENSA), Apartado 10, CP 32700, San José de las Lajas, Mayabeque, Cuba.
authors.forename: Osvaldo
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Fonseca
authors.affiliation: Swiss National Soil Monitoring Network, Agroscope, Reckenholzstrasse 191, 8046, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Armin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Keller
authors.affiliation: Swiss National Soil Monitoring Network, Agroscope, Reckenholzstrasse 191, 8046, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schwab
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Sanidad Agropecuaria (CENSA), Apartado 10, CP 32700, San José de las Lajas, Mayabeque, Cuba. escobar@censa.edu.cu.
authors.forename: Arturo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Escobar
authors.affiliation: Environmental Analytics, Agroscope, Reckenholzstrasse 191, 8046, Zurich, Switzerland. thomas.bucheli@agroscope.admin.ch.
authors.forename: Thomas D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Bucheli
mesh_terms: D017691:Caribbean Region; D003462:Cuba; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry; D012989:Soil Pollutants
chemical_list: D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls
keywords: Country in transition; Exposure assessment; GC-MS; Persistent organic pollutants; Soil pollution; Soxhlet extraction; Stockholm protocol