Abstract
Coaly material enters various environmental compartments from different emission sources and on diverse pathways. The complexity of both the emission processes and the quality of contamination in the Ostrava region avoids a simple source correlation for coal-derived pollution. Hence, this study focused on the application of different geochemical approaches for source apportionment using bulk parameters, aliphatic biomarkers and source-specific PAH ratios. Major aim was to prove the effectiveness of the applied methods for characterizing the impact of coal-derived contamination in complex emission systems such as in the Ostrava region. Individual emission sources were discriminated sufficiently by TOC vs. TEH relationship and two-dimensional correlations of PAH ratios. Additionally, aliphatic biomarkers revealed individual signatures for all classes of samples and pointed to a widespread distribution of fossil material also in the hydrosphere. On the contrary, indicative PAH ratios documented a dominance of pyrogenic over petrogenic-derived organic matter in the lake sediments investigated. These contradictory descriptions demonstrate clearly that only a comprehensive application of different marker systems allows a detailed view on the quality and quantity of coal-derived pollution. Lastly, it remains unclear whether coaly material in aquatic sediments acts as sink or source for PAHs. A proposed indicative marker, the ratio of phenanthrene over retene, failed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aboul-Kassim TAT, Simoneit BRT (1995) Petroleum hydrocarbon fingerprinting and sediment transport assessed by molecular biomarker and multivariate statistical analyses in the eastern harbour of Alexandria, Egypt. Marine Pollut Bull 30(1):63–73
Achten C, Hofmann T (2009) Native polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in coals—a hardly recognized source of environmental contamination. Sci Total Environ 40(8):2461–2473
Achten C, Cheng S, Straub KL, Hofmann T (2011) The lack of microbial degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from coal-rich soils. Environ Pollut 159:623–629
Barra R, Quiroz R, Saez K, Araneda A, Urrutia R, Popp P (2008) Source of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in sediments of the Biobio River in south central Chile. Environ Chem Lett 7(2):133–139
Ding X, Wang XM, Xie ZQ, Xiang CH, Mai BX, Sun LG, Zheng M, Sheng GY, Fu JM, Pöschl U (2007) Atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons observed over the North Pacific Ocean and the Arctic area: spatial distribution and source identification. Atmospheric Environ 41(10):2061–2072
Farias C-O, Hamacher C, de Wagener AL-R, de Scofield AL (2008) Origin and degradation of hydrocarbons in mangrove sediments (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) contaminated by an oil spill. Org Geochem 39(3):289
Faure P, Landais P, Schlepp L, Michels R (2000) Evidence for diffusive contamination of river sediments by road asphalt particles. Environ Sci Technol 34(7):1174–1181
Faure P, Mansuy-Huault L, Su X (2006) Alkanes and hopanes for pollution source apportionment in coking plant soils. Environ Chem Lett 5(1):41–46
Ghosh U, Gillette JS, Luthy RG, Zare RN (2000) Microscale location, characterization, and association of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on harbor sediment particles. Environ Sci Technol 34(9):1729–1736
Gu S-H, Kralovec AC, Christensen ER, Van Camp RP (2003) Source apportionment of PAHs in dated sediments from the Black River, Ohio. Wat Res 37(9):2149–2161
Halek F, Kianpour M, Kavousi A (2010) Characterization and source apportionment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the ambient air (Tehran, Iran). Environ Chem Lett 8(1):39–44
Hu NJ, Shi XF, Huang P, Liu JH (2011) Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in surface sediments of Laizhou Bay, Bohai Sea, China. Environ Earth Sci 63(1):121–133
Kaplan IR, Dalperin Y, Lu ST, Lee RP (1997) Forensic environmental geochemistry: differentiation of fuel-types, their sources and release time. Org Geochem 27(5–6):289–313
Katsoyiannis A, Terzi E, Cai QY (2007) On the use of PAH molecular diagnostic ratios in sewage sludge for the understanding of the PAH sources. Is this use appropriate? Chemosphere 69(8):1337–1339
Lehndorff E, Schwark L (2009) Biomonitoring airborne parent and alkylated three-ring PAHs in the greater cologne conurbation II: regional distribution pattern. Environ Pollut 157(5):1706–1713
Martinec P et al (2006) Termination of underground coal mining and its impact on the environment. Anagram s.r.o, Ostrava, p 128
Navarro-Ortega A, Ratola N, Hildebrandt A, Alves A, Lacorte S, Barcélo D (2011) Environmental distribution of PAHs in pine needles, soils, and sediments. Environ Sci Pollut Res 19(3):677–688
Pies C, Hoffmann B, Petrowsky J, Yang Y, Ternes TA, Hofmann T (2008a) Characterization and source identification of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in river bank soils. Chemosphere 72(10):1594–1601
Pies C, Ternes T-A, Hofmann T (2008b) Identifying sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soils: distinguishing point and non-point sources using an extended PAH spectrum and n-alkanes. J Soils Sediments 8(5):312–322
Shukla V, Patel DK, Upreti DK, Yunus M (2012) Lichens to distinguish urban from industrial PAHs. Envrion Chem Lett 10(2):159–164
Starý J (2004) Mineral Commodity Summaries of the Czech Republic 2004 Yearbook, Ministry of Environment of the Czech Republic, Czech
Stout SA, Emsbo-Mattingly SD (2008) Concentration and character of PAHs and other hydrocarbons in coals of varying rank—implications for environmental studies of soils and sediments containing particulate coal. Org Geochem 39(7):801–819
Tay CK, Biney CA (2013) Levels and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in selected irrigated urban agricultural soils in Accra, Ghana. Environ Earth Sci 68(6):1773–1782
Tobiszewski M, Namiesnik J (2012) PAH diagnostic ratios for the identification of pollution sources. Environ Pollut 162:110–119
Wang Z, Fingas M, Shu Y–Y, Sigouin L, Landriault M, Lambert P (1999) Quantitative characterization of PAHs in burn residue and soot samples and differentiation of pyrogenic PAHs from petrogenic PAHs—the 1994 mobile burn study. Environ Sci Technol 33(18):3100–3109
Wang X-C, Zhang Y-X, Chen RF (2001) Distribution and partitioning of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in different size fractions in sediments from Boston Harbor, United States. Marine Poll Bull 42(11):1139–1149
Wang Z, Yang P, Wang Y, Ma X (2012) Urban fractionation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from Dalian soils. Environ Chem Lett 10(2):183–187
Yang Y, Ligouis B, Pies C, Achten C, Hofmann T (2008) Identification of carbonaceous geosorbents for PAHs by organic petrography in river floodplain soils. Chemosphere 71(11):2158–2167
Yunker M-B, Macdonald R-W (2003) Petroleum biomarker sources in suspended particulate matter and sediments from the Fraser river Basin and Strait of Georgia, Canada. Org Geochem 34(11):1525–1541
Yunker M-B, Macdonald R-W, Roxanne V, Mitchell R-H, Goyette D, Sylvestre S (2002) PAHs in the Fraser River basin: a critical appraisal of PAH ratios as indicators of PAH source and composition. Org Geochem 33(4):489–515
Zhang W, Zhang S, Wan C, Yue D, Ye Y, Wang X (2008) Source diagnostics of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in urban road runoff, dust, rain and canopy throughfall. Environ Pollut 153(3):594–601
Acknowledgments
This study was funded by The Czech Ministry of Environment (Grant No. MŽP-OG-115/06/SS). The study was also kindly supported by the Institutional research support of Masaryk University in the year 2012.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Geršlova, E., Schwarzbauer, J. Hydrocarbon-based indicators for characterizing potential sources of coal-derived pollution in the vicinity of the Ostrava City. Environ Earth Sci 71, 3211–3222 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-013-2709-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-013-2709-0