Source Discrimination of PAHs in Coastal Sediments of Persian Gulf Bushehr Province

Persian Gulf coasts are subjected to different sources of petroleum pollution comprising oil spills old transferring pipelines, spillage of crude oil from offshore and land oil fields. Owing to strategic situation of the area, identifying of petroleum pollution level and source is an important issue. Therefore, this paper enhanced fingerprinting method of applying biomarkers PAHs in identifying source and distribution of oil spills and weathering index of the exposed spilled oil and petroleum products. 13 samples collected from the northern coasts of Persian Gulf situated in Bushehr Province. PAH concentrations in the coastal sediments ranged from 22.18 to 1630.44 ng.g-1. In the present study the distribution of 3 ring PAHs is much higher than the other PAHs. phenanthrene and alkylated derivatives of phenanthrene such as 3methyl, 2-methyl, 9-methyl and 1-methyl phenanthrene are distinctively higher than the other components. Based on the result PAHs concentration can be categorized as low to moderate comparing the global scale. Applying clustering of the data revealed that two major groups are known. The first group, including 3MP, 2MP, 9MP and 1MP, belongs to the low molecular weight PAHs with 2–3 rings or alkyl-substituted PAHs, which are abundant in petrogenic sources mostly caused by petroleum spills. The second group consists of DBT, Nap, and DB)ah(A in which most of them are 4 and 5 ring PAHs. This group is frequently detected in pyrogenic source, such as combustion of coal, wood, vehicle fuel and waste tire. Therefore, it is supposed to be an indefinite combustion source in some parts being related to the Gulf war.

Keywords:

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons , Persian Gulf , Coastal Sediment , Fingerprinting