International Journal of Marine Science 2016, Vol.6, No.48, 1-10
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PAHs may great extent pollute all environmental matrices and raise toxicological, mutagenic and carcinogenic
concerns. Inhalation of fine particles, skin contact and ingestion are the main routes of human exposure to PAHs.
The determination of PAH concentrations in environmental matrices, for example, soil is important to characterize
the levels of environmental contamination and lastly to evaluate the danger of human introduction. Thus, several
studies have been conducted in the world on the evaluation of PAH in the soils (Motelay - Massi et al., 2004;
Bryselbout et al., 2000; Maliszewska – Kordubach, 1996 and Dan-Badjo et al., 2015).
The main objective of the present study in West Qurna-2 oil field was:
- To investigate the seasonal and spatial distributions of PAH compounds, total organic carbon and grain size.
- To determine the sources and origins of PAH pollution.
Material and Methods
Soil samples were collected seasonally during the period from September 2015 to March 2016 at ten stations in
West Qurna-2 oil field at Basrah city (Fig.1). Samples were warped with aluminum foil then transferred to the
laboratory for analysis.
Fig. (1) The study area showing sample locations.
The procedure which described by Grimalt and Olive (1993) and Wang et al., (2011) was used to extracted the
hydrocarbons from soil. Twenty five grams of soil were soxhlet extracted for 24 hours with 250 ml methanol:
benzen (1:1). Elemental sulfur was removed from the extracts using activated elemental copper in order to avoid
sulfur interferences when using gas chromatography. The extracts were then fractionated into aliphatic and
aromatic hydrocarbons by chromatography column. The column was prepared by slurry packing 10 g of silica
(100-200 mesh), followed by 10 g of alumina (100-200 mesh) (silica-gel and alumina were activated at 200°C for
4 hours and then partially deactivated with 5 % water) and finally 1 g of anhydrous sodium sulphate was added to
the surface to avoid disturbance of the top layer when pouring the solvent. The extract was then applied to the
head of the column and eluted 25 ml of benzene to yield the aromatic hydrocarbons. The aromatic fractions were
concentrated on a rotary evaporator, transferred to a vial, and the volume was adjusted to 1 ml exactly using a
stream of N
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. An aliquot of 1 μl of extract of aromatic hydrocarbons was subjected to analysis by an allegiant
capillary gas chromatography with flam ionization detector (FID). Column (model Agilent 19091J-101HP-5 5%
