Characteristics, Sources, and Risk Assessment of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Soils and Sediments in the Yellow River Delta, China

Yilei Zhao, Yuxuan Wu, Yue Qi (), Junsheng Li (), Xueyan Huang, Yuchen Hou, Haojing Hao and Shuyu Zhu
Additional contact information
Yilei Zhao: Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
Yuxuan Wu: Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
Yue Qi: Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
Junsheng Li: School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Xueyan Huang: Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
Yuchen Hou: Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
Haojing Hao: Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
Shuyu Zhu: Administration Bureau of the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve, Dongying 257091, China

Land, 2025, vol. 14, issue 8, 1-20

Abstract: This study investigates the presence, origin, and associated ecological and human health risks of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soils from uncultivated lands and beach sediments within the Yellow River Delta (YRD), China. The measured concentrations of 16 priority PAHs in soils spanned 24.97–326.42 ng/g (mean: 130.88 ng/g), while concentrations in sediments ranged from 46.17 to 794.32 ng/g, averaging 227.22 ng/g. In terms of composition, low-molecular-weight PAHs predominated in soil samples, whereas high-molecular-weight compounds were more prevalent in sediments. The positive matrix factorization (PMF) model results suggested that petroleum pollution and fuel combustion were the main sources of PAHs in soils, whereas the contribution in sediments was derived from petroleum and traffic pollution. The ecological risk assessment results indicated that there existed no obvious ecological risk of soil PAHs, but sediment PAHs could negatively impact the surrounding ecological environment, especially in the northern coastal beach area. In addition, soil PAHs posed no potential carcinogenic risk to humans. Further pollution prevention and management measures are required in this region to ensure the safety of the environment.

Keywords: PAHs; uncultivated land soils; coastal beach sediments; source analysis; risk assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/8/1608/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/8/1608/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:8:p:1608-:d:1719327

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().