Harbour sediments include wash-off from different nearby catchments that have various landuse activities. In this study the spatial variation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Sydney Harbour was studied by analysing the sediment. The sediment was collected from 12 locations and 16 PAHs that are prioritized by the United States Environmental Protection Authority were analysed. The concentrations in the sediment were in the range of 54–23,440 ng/g of total PAHs and this varied from location to location. The result suggests that the harbour is contaminated with PAHs from low concentration to very high concentration. Among the total PAHs, approximately 75% were medium to higher molecular weight 4- and 5-ring member PAHs. A toxicity identification evaluation (TEQ) approach using a toxicity equivalency factor (TEF) was applied to assess the sediment toxicity. The TEF was found to be between 22 and 8,277 ng TEQ/g. The TEQ value indicated potential adverse ecological and human health effects in many locations.
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Research Article|
August 20 2013
Spatial variation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and equivalent toxicity in Sydney Harbour, Australia
Rupak Aryal;
1School of Natural and Built Environments, University of South Australia, South Australia 5095, Australia
E-mail: [email protected]
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Simon Beecham;
Simon Beecham
1School of Natural and Built Environments, University of South Australia, South Australia 5095, Australia
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Sarvanamuthu Vigneswaran;
Sarvanamuthu Vigneswaran
2Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia
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Jaya Kandasamy;
Jaya Kandasamy
2Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia
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Ravi Naidu
Ravi Naidu
3Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (CRC CARE) Australia, South Australia, Australia
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Journal of Water and Climate Change (2013) 4 (4): 364–372.
Article history
Received:
October 09 2012
Accepted:
July 06 2013
Citation
Rupak Aryal, Simon Beecham, Sarvanamuthu Vigneswaran, Jaya Kandasamy, Ravi Naidu; Spatial variation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and equivalent toxicity in Sydney Harbour, Australia. Journal of Water and Climate Change 1 December 2013; 4 (4): 364–372. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wcc.2013.059
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