Ice Phase As An Important Factor On The Seasonal Variation Of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons In The Tumen River, Northeastern Of China

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are ubiquitous environmental pollutants, many of them have toxic and carcinogenic properties and seriously affects on the human and animal's safety. The Tumen River is a boundary river between China and North Korea and it serves as an important water source to residents, industry and agriculture. In order to effectively manage this water resource and to ensure the quality of water, suspended particulate samples, water samples and sediment samples were collected from 13 sites along the River in 2008 and 2009. In addition in the winter of 2008, ice samples and air-particulates were collected. Among PAHs, fluorene, phenanthrene and pyrene were found to be present in high concentrations and at high detection frequencies. The total concentration of PAHs in the water, particulate, sediment and ice phase ranged from 12.9-1.05×103 ng L-1,19.4-2.10×103 ng L-1,19.1-2.55×103 ng g-1 and 62.8-136 ng g-1 respectively. The highest levels of PAHs were found at industrial area. PAHs in the Tumen River showed obvious seasonal variability and the levels of PAHs were generally higher in spring than other seasons. The ice phase in winter acts like a major reservoir of the pollutants and it is major contributes to seasonal variation of PAHs in Tumen River. The sources of PAHs were also discussed based on the compositions and isomer ratios of PAHs found in the Tumen River, that the main source of PAHs in the study area was combustion.