Composition, Concentration and Origin of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Waters and Bottom Sediments of Lake Baikal and Its Tributaries

Abstract

The aim of this study was the systematization and generalization of data obtained by authors during the last decade and the comparison of these data with those obtained by other authors. Gas chromatography (GC-MS) was used for the determination of PAHs and the positive matrix factorization (PMF) model and principal component analysis (PCA) were used for source apportionment of PAHs. It was found that the total concentration of 16 priority PAHs in surface waters varied from 5 to 200 ng/L, whereas the concentration of 16 PAHs in bottom sediments varied from 50 to 700 ng/g. The 2–3-ring PAHs were dominant in water, whereas the 4–6-ring PAHs were dominant in sediments. That was due to PAHs fractionation in the soil–water system. The source apportionment results showed that the PAHs in both water and sediments mostly originated from the combustion of biomass and fossil fuels. In contrast to sediments, there was a PAH fraction in water that did not originate from a single source. The pollution of freshwater ecosystems manifested itself in the lack of correlation between values of octanol/water partitioning coefficients and sediment/water partitioning coefficients of PAHs.