The Mediterranean Sea is highly influenced by several anthropic pressures, including different kinds of organic pollutants. Fragrance Materials (FMs) and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) were investigated in the surface seawater of the Sicily Channel in offshore and coastal areas. Total concentrations of FMs and PAHs resulted respectively up to 112 ng L−1and 43 ng L−1, with similar distributions of both classes of analytes. Low values were detected in some coastal samples, due to the upwelling of deep and unpolluted waters, while the presence of gyres probably accumulates contaminants in offshore areas. Confirming previous works, the allergenic and oestrogenic Salicylates generally resulted the most abundant FMs and diagnostic ratios indicated combustion processes as the sources of PAHs. The coupling of the well-known PAHs with a new class of Personal Care Products (PCPs) helped the identification of the major environmental drivers: the results highlighted the role of mesoscale hydrodynamics and suggested long-range atmospheric transport as key factors. The first detection of the selected FMs in open sea areas supports the hypothesis of their environmental persistence.

Distribution of fragrances and PAHs in the surface seawater of the Sicily Channel, Central Mediterranean

Vecchiato, Marco;Turetta, Clara;Barbante, Carlo;Piazza, Rossano;Bonato, Tiziano;Gambaro, Andrea
2018-01-01

Abstract

The Mediterranean Sea is highly influenced by several anthropic pressures, including different kinds of organic pollutants. Fragrance Materials (FMs) and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) were investigated in the surface seawater of the Sicily Channel in offshore and coastal areas. Total concentrations of FMs and PAHs resulted respectively up to 112 ng L−1and 43 ng L−1, with similar distributions of both classes of analytes. Low values were detected in some coastal samples, due to the upwelling of deep and unpolluted waters, while the presence of gyres probably accumulates contaminants in offshore areas. Confirming previous works, the allergenic and oestrogenic Salicylates generally resulted the most abundant FMs and diagnostic ratios indicated combustion processes as the sources of PAHs. The coupling of the well-known PAHs with a new class of Personal Care Products (PCPs) helped the identification of the major environmental drivers: the results highlighted the role of mesoscale hydrodynamics and suggested long-range atmospheric transport as key factors. The first detection of the selected FMs in open sea areas supports the hypothesis of their environmental persistence.
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Sicily channel published.pdf

non disponibili

Tipologia: Versione dell'editore
Licenza: Accesso chiuso-personale
Dimensione 1.66 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
1.66 MB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri
Manuscript without changes marked.doc

accesso aperto

Tipologia: Documento in Pre-print
Licenza: Accesso libero (no vincoli)
Dimensione 1.75 MB
Formato Microsoft Word
1.75 MB Microsoft Word Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in ARCA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10278/3702229
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? 5
  • Scopus 37
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 36
social impact