Abstract
Comprehensive analysis of the source, exposure and risks of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is very important for formulating regional soil pollution mitigation strategies. However, comprehensive information on the risks of specific sources of PAHs in regional soils is very limited. In this study, we selected the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration as the research area. Combined with land use types, we improved the existing source analysis receptor model, significantly increased the identification of pollution sources and improved the prediction accuracy of PAH concentrations. Urban land soil is strongly disturbed by human activities, resulting in a considerable number of pollution sources, and the PAH contribution of each pollution source is also large. In contrast, woodland and grassland soils are relatively less affected by human activities, and biomass combustion sources are dominant. By combining the ecological risk assessment and health risk assessment models of PAHs, we established an improved mixed source-risk model. An analysis using the established mixed model showed that PAHs in urban land soil caused the highest ecological risk and health risk, with risk probabilities of 56.3% and 28.2%, respectively. Moreover, the average contamination severity index (CSI) values of PAHs caused by oil combustion sources, coal combustion sources, coking furnace sources, and fuel (biomass, petroleum volatilization and diesel) combustion sources were 0.13, 0.10, 0.16 and 0.17, respectively. The average noncarcinogenic risks of PAHs caused by oil combustion sources, coal combustion sources, coking furnace sources and biomass, petroleum volatilization and diesel combustion sources to children were 0.12, 0.11, 0.08 and 0.13, respectively. Nearly half of the PAH pollution risk in forestland and grassland soil were associated with the combustion of petroleum fossil fuels, but the overall risk was low. These research results can provide support for environmental protection departments to improve regional environmental pollution management and risk prevention.
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