Pollution and Risk Assessment of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (Pahs) in Agricultural Soil along a Highway of Jilin Province, China

Abstract

ABSTRACT The agricultural area adjacent to highways experienced high threat ofpersistent organic pollutants (POPs), which are fromvehicle exhaust, asphalt, and tyre wear.To analyze the presence, distribution patterns, ecological risk and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), soil samples were collected in farmland along a highway in Jilin province, China and analyzed for 16 PAHs. The concentration of ∑16PAHs in soil at traffic sites ranged from 781.83-3659.21 ng/g dry weight with the mean value of 2263.78 ng/g, respectively.The PAHs patterns were generally dominated by the high molecular weight (HMW) PAHs, which represented about 65.82% of the total PAHs in traffic sites and 53.52% in control sites of the total 16 PAHs in soil samples. The sources of PAHs in soilwere mainly contaminated by mixed petroleum and combustion. Ecological risk assessment indicated that there were18.33% of the soil samples belong to Moderate-risk 2, and 81.67% of soil samples belong to High-risk. Through the diagnostic ratio analysis, some clean-up measures should be consideredto mitigate local food production risks.