Pre- and post-industrial levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediments from the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence (eastern Canada)
Authors: Corminboeuf A, Montero-Serrano JC, St-Louis R, Dalpé A, Gélinas Y
Affiliations
1 Institut des sciences de la mer de Rimouski, Université du Québec à Rimouski, 310 Allée des Ursulines, Rimouski, QC G5L 3A1, Canada. Electronic address: annecorminboeuf@hotmail.com.
2 Institut des sciences de la mer de Rimouski, Université du Québec à Rimouski, 310 Allée des Ursulines, Rimouski, QC G5L 3A1, Canada. Electronic address: jeancarlos_monteroserrano@uqar.ca.
3 Université du Québec à Rimouski, 300 Allée des Ursulines, Rimouski, QC G5L 3A1, Canada.
4 Institut des sciences de la mer de Rimouski, Université du Québec à Rimouski, 310 Allée des Ursulines, Rimouski, QC G5L 3A1, Canada; Université du Québec à Rimouski, 300 Allée des Ursulines, Rimouski, QC G5L 3A1, Canada; Département de Chimie, Université Laval, Pavillon Alexandre-Vachon, 1045 avenue de la Médecine, Université Laval, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada.
5 Geotop and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke St. West, Mont
Description
The concentrations of 23 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs; 16 parent PAHs and 7 alkyl-PAHs) were determined in 45 surface sediment and 7 basal sediment box core samples retrieved from the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence in eastern Canada. The concentration sums of 16 priority PAHs (S<sub>16</sub>PAHs) in the surface sediments (representing modern times or at least younger than the last decade) ranged from 71 to 5672 ng g<sup>-1</sup>. S<sub>16</sub>PAHs in the basal sediments ranged from 93 to 172 ng g<sup>-1</sup> among the pre-industrial samples (pre-1900 common era or CE) and from 1216 to 1621 ng g<sup>-1</sup> among the early post-industrial samples (~1930s and ~1940s CE). The highest S<sub>16</sub>PAH values occurred in samples retrieved from the Baie-Comeau-Matane area, an area affected by intense industrial anthropogenic activities. Source-diagnostic PAH ratios suggest a predominance of pyrogenic sources via atmospheric deposition, with a minor contribution of petrogenic seabed pockmark sources. The PAH concentrations in the sediments from the study areas reveal low ecological risks to benthic or other organisms living near the water-sediment interface.
Links
PubMed: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34871900/
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.113219
