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Soil mobility of surface applied polyaromatic hydrocarbons in response to simulated rainfall

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Abstract

Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are emitted from a variety of sources and can accumulate on and within surface soil layers. To investigate the level of potential risk posed by surface contaminated soils, vertical soil column experiments were conducted to assess the mobility, when leached with simulated rainwater, of six selected PAHs (naphthalene, phenanthrene, fluoranthene, pyrene, benzo(e)pyrene and benzo(ghi)perylene) with contrasting hydrophobic characteristics and molecular weights/sizes. The only PAH found in the leachate within the experimental period of 26 days was naphthalene. The lack of migration of the other applied PAHs was consistent with their low mobilities within the soil columns which generally paralleled their log K oc values. Thus, only 2.3 % of fluoranthene, 1.8 % of pyrene, 0.2 % of benzo(e)pyrene and 0.4 % of benzo(ghi)perylene were translocated below the surface layer. The PAH distributions in the soil columns followed decreasing power relationships with 90 % reductions in the starting levels being shown to occur within a maximum average depth of 0.94 cm compared to an average starting depth of 0.5 cm. A simple predictive model identifies the extensive time periods, in excess of 10 years, required to mobilise 50 % of the benzo(e)pyrene and benzo(ghi)perylene from the surface soil layer. Although this reduces to between 2 and 7 years for fluoranthene and pyrene, it is concluded that the possibility of surface-applied PAHs reaching and contaminating a groundwater aquifer is unlikely.

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Acknowledgements

Tamas Balogh acknowledges the award of a research studentship from Middlesex University to support his PhD studies. We are grateful to the University of Reading for facilitating the collection of soil samples from Sonning Farm.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Urban Pollution Research Centre, Middlesex University, The Burroughs, Hendon, London, NW4 4BT, UK

    D Michael Revitt, Tamas Balogh & Huw Jones

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  1. D Michael Revitt
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  2. Tamas Balogh
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  3. Huw Jones
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Correspondence to D Michael Revitt.

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Responsible editor: Ester Heath

Electronic supplementary material

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Online Resource 1

Analysed levels of PAHs and monuron in the prepared spiking solution (1,000 mg l−1) and extraction recovery efficiencies from the artificially contaminated soil sub-samples (nominally 5 mg g−1) (DOCX 13 kb)

Online Resource 2

Distributions of phenanthrene at depths greater than 1 cm in soil columns A and B after leaching with 0.01 M CaCl2 for 26 days. (DOCX 268 kb)

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Revitt, D.M., Balogh, T. & Jones, H. Soil mobility of surface applied polyaromatic hydrocarbons in response to simulated rainfall. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21, 4209–4219 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-2231-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-2231-7

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