Abstract
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) distribution on aquatic particle sizes determines their transportation and degradation fate and hence their management performance for aquatic environment. Using thermal desorption (TD) extraction coupled to gas chromatography and mass spectrometer (GC-MS), we investigated PAH concentration variation in size-fractionated urban creek surface sediments. Sediment fractions were also investigated for their major material composition and chemical oxygen demand (COD). In general, the PAH’s concentrations and volatile content by particle sizes indicated bimodal distributions with smaller and larger particles enriched with constituents than with the intermediate sized sediment particles. However, most mass of the PAHs was associated with the smaller and intermediate-sized sediments. For smaller sediments, sediments affected by commercial area runoff showed higher concentrations of PAHs than that of non-commercial area runoff sediments. Linear correlations between sediment COD and PAH concentrations were obvious for highly volatile sediments than that of less volatile sediments.
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