Hydroxylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in surface soil in an emerging urban conurbation in South China

To investigate the effects of human activity on contaminants in regional soil, hydroxylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (OH-PAHs) were measured in 187 surface soil samples of different land-use types collected from the Pearl River Delta (PRD), South China. The concentrations of Σ₉OH-PAH (sum of nine target analytes) ranged from 0.36 to 252ng/g (median: 5.98ng/g), with phenanthrene derivatives as the dominant components, accounting for ~70%. Among different land-use types, residency soil contained the highest levels of Σ₉OH-PAH (median: 11.3ng/g), followed by landfill soil (9.28ng/g), industry soil (7.51ng/g), agriculture soil (6.04ng/g), forestry soil (4.28ng/g) and drinking water source soil (4.20ng/g). A higher value was also observed in soil from the central PRD (6.94ng/g) than the surrounding areas (5.94ng/g), which indicated a significant impact of human activity on OH-PAH contamination in soil. Correlation and principal component analysis indicated that OH-PAHs in PRD soil are likely derived from the degradation of their parent PAHs in the atmosphere and/or soil and not directly from the same source as the parent PAHs. The ratios of OH-PAHs to their parent PAHs also varied among different land-use types, which may be partly attributed to the different populations of microorganisms in different soil types or the different chemical properties of PAHs and their metabolites.