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Seasonal and spatial character of PCBs in a chemical industrial zone of Shanghai, China

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Abstract

As one of China’s great metropolises, Shanghai is suffering from the impact of manufacture and the use of chemical industrial products, and it faces serious pollution from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Therefore, in this study, in order to assess the seasonal and spatial character of contamination from chemical industrial zones, the concentrations of PCBs have been measured in various environmental media, including soil, leaves, and atmospheric particulate samples collected in a chemical industrial zone of Shanghai and compared with samples from presumably unpolluted sites of rural areas. In soils, the PCB concentrations ranged from 0.5 ng g−1 (unpolluted site) to 586.85 ng g−1 (chlor-alkali industry site). The concentrations of PCBs in evergreen leaves ranged from 0.3 ng g−1 to 32.46 ng g−1, and more chlorinated biphenyls congeners, such as penta-biphenyls and hexa-biphenyls, were the dominant contributors in winter and spring. Seasonal differences and the constitution patterns of congeners might be affected by the temperature and industrial activities. The PCB concentrations in the leaves of deciduous trees increase over time as the leaves grow. The PCB concentration in atmospheric particulates was in the range of 9.22–14.15 × 103 pg m−3, which might be the result of influence from climate and industrial activities. The relativity of PCB contents among the environmental media was discussed. The results in this paper provide an important profile of the current contamination status of a key chemical industrial zone in China.

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Acknowledgment

This work is supported by the Major State Basic Research Development Program of China (973 Program-2003CB415003).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Jing Ma, Jinping Cheng, Haiyun Xie, Xiaofang Hu, Wei Li, Jin Zhang, Tao Yuan & Wenhua Wang

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  1. Jing Ma
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  2. Jinping Cheng
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  3. Haiyun Xie
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  4. Xiaofang Hu
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  5. Wei Li
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  8. Wenhua Wang
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Correspondence to Wenhua Wang.

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Ma, J., Cheng, J., Xie, H. et al. Seasonal and spatial character of PCBs in a chemical industrial zone of Shanghai, China. Environ Geochem Health 29, 503–511 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-007-9119-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-007-9119-8

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