Source apportionment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in surface sediment of mud areas in the East China Sea using diagnostic ratios and factor analysis

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and aliphatic hydrocarbons (AHs) have been quantified for surface sediments collected from the East China Sea (ECS). Our results showed that relatively high levels of PAHs and AHs occurred in both the inner and outer mud areas, while their concentrations at the control site were much lower. AHs for all samples were dominated by the unresolved complex mixture (UCM). Results from diagnostic ratios revealed that sedimentary PAHs were mainly originated from mixed combustion residues of biomass, coal, and petroleum. Combustion residues of petroleum and oil were responsible for the presence of high AHs concentrations. We also conducted factor analysis (FA) to further characterize the PAH and AH sources. Four factors were identified based on the loading of components and attributed to coal and wood combustion (Factor 1), traffic-related sources (Factor 2), petrogenic source (Factor 3) and natural gas combustion (Factor 4).