Characterization and Sources of PAHs and Potentially Toxic Metals in Urban Environments of Sevilla (Southern Spain)

• Published in: Water, air, and soil pollution Vol. 187; no. 1-4; pp. 41 - 51
• Main Authors: Morillo, E, Romero, A. S, Madrid, L, Villaverde, J, Maqueda, C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Dordrecht : Springer Netherlands 01.01.2008; Springer Netherlands; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acenaphthene; Anthracene; Applied sciences; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Benzo(a)pyrene; Cadmium; Chromatography; Chromium; Chrysene; Climate Change/Climate Change Impacts; Copper; Dichloromethane; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics; Environment; Environmental monitoring; Exact sciences and technology; Fluoranthene; Fluorene; Gardens & gardening; Heavy metals; Hydrogeology; Land use; Lead; Liquid chromatography; Metals; Microwave oven; Motor vehicles; Naphthalene; Phenanthrene; point source pollution; polluted soils; Pollution; Pollution sources. Measurement results; Pollution, environment geology; Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; Principal components analysis; Pyrene; Qualitative analysis; River banks; Sediments; Sensors; Soil and sediments pollution; Soil pollution; Soil Science & Conservation; Soils; Sonication; Studies; Toxicity; Urban areas; Urban environments; urban soils; Water Quality/Water Pollution; Spain; Europe; Seville Spain; PAHs; Soil pollution; Source apportionment; Toxic metals; Urban soils; Sonication; Fluorescence detector; Chemical analysis; Hydrocarbon; HPLC chromatography; Urban area; Polycyclic aromatic compound; Land use; Heavy metal; Persistent organic pollutant; Spatial distribution; Pollution source inventory; Diode array; Qualitative analysis; Organic compounds; Principal component analysis; Quantitative analysis; Concentration distribution; Anthropogenic factor
• ISSN: 0049-6979; 1573-2932
• DOI: 10.1007/s11270-007-9495-9

The purpose of this study was to determine the degree of PAH contamination and the association of PAHs with metals in urban soil samples from Sevilla (Spain). Fifteen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons-PAHs (naphthalene, acenaphthene, fluorene, phenanthrene, anthracene, fluoranthene, pyrene, benzo[a]anthracene, chrysene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, benzo[a]pyrene, dibenzo[a,h]anthracene, benzo[g,h,i]perylene, indeno[1,2,3-c,d]pyrene) and seven metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn) have been evaluated in representative urban soil samples. Forty-one top soils (0-10 cm) under different land use (garden, roadside, riverbank and agricultural allotment) were selected. PAHs from soil samples were extracted by sonication using dichloromethane. The simultaneous quantification of 15 different PAH compounds were carried out by HPLC using multiple wavelength shift in the fluorescence detector. For qualitative analysis a photo diode-array detector was used. Metal (pseudo-total) analysis was carried out by digestion of the soils with aqua regia in microwave oven. The mean concentration of each PAH in urban soils of Sevilla showed a wide range, they are not considered highly contaminated. The results of the sum of 15 PAHs in Sevilla soils are in the range 89.5-4004.2 μg kg-¹, but there seems not to be a correlation between the concentration of PAHs and the land use. Of the 15 PAHs examined, phenanthrene, fluoranthene and pyrene were present at the highest concentrations, being the sum of these PAHs about 40% of the total content. Although metal content were not especially high in most soils, there are significant hints of moderate pollution in some particular spots. Such spots are mainly related with some gardens within the historic quarters of the city. The associations among metals and PAHs content in the soil samples was checked by principal components analysis (PCA). The largest values both for 'urban' metals (Pb, Cu and Zn) and for PAHs were mainly found in sites close to the historic quarters of the city in which a heavy traffic of motor vehicles is suffered from years.