Open AccessSources of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in South China Sea Short Core Sediments Off Southern Part Terengganu, Malaysia and Multivariate Statistics Approaches
Author(s) -
Swee Yun Pang,
Suhaimi Suratman,
Yii Siang Hii,
Bernd R.T. Simoneit,
Norhayati Mohd Tahir
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
sains malaysiana
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.251
H-Index - 29
eISSN - 2735-0118
pISSN - 0126-6039
DOI - 10.17576/jsm-2021-5009-02
Subject(s) - environmental chemistry , total organic carbon , perylene , polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon , sediment , surface runoff , environmental science , sediment core , principal component analysis , fluvial , chemistry , geology , structural basin , geomorphology , ecology , organic chemistry , artificial intelligence , molecule , computer science , biology
Sediment cores from the southern South China Sea off the Terengganu coast were analyzed for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH s) and perylene. The concentrations of total 17 PAH (TPAHs) and perylene varied between 5.45-27.7 ng/g and 0.51-7.77 ng/g, respectively. Analyses of variance showed significant differences between the stations, but not in sub-bottom depths at the 0.05 level. The PAH cross plots showed a predominance of pyrogenic over petrogenic PAH s. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed clustered PAH s that are correlated with total organic carbon (TOC), indicating the importance of surface runoff via fluvial transport for contributing these PAH s to the coastal environment of the study area. Overall, the concentrations of PAH s in the study area are considered to be in the low range, not exceeding the 100 ng/g mark.