Spatiotemporal variations in soil pollution by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons over a 20-year economic boom in different districts of a heavy industrial city in North China.

Urbanization-related human activities, such as population aggregation, rapid industrial expansion, and intensified traffic, are key factors that impact local polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emissions and their associated health risks. Consequently, regions with varying degrees of urbanization within a megacity may exhibit diverse spatiotemporal patterns in the presence and distribution of soil polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, resulting in different levels of ecological risks for local inhabitants following the same period of development. In this study, we measured the concentrations of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soil samples collected from industrial district and rural district in Tianjin (China) in 2018, and compared with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon data in 2001 from a previous study to characterize these regional variations in occurrence, source, and human risk of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons induced by urbanization with time and space. The results indicate the 20-year rapid urbanization and industrialization has differentially affected the composition, distribution and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soils from different economic functional zones in Tianjin. Additionally, its impact on health risks in rural district appeared to be more significant than that in industrial district.

Copper-zinc nanoparticle-decorated nitrogen-doped carbon composite for electrochemical determination of triclosan.

A new sensor based on copper-zinc bimetal embedded and nitrogen-doped carbon-based composites (CuZn@NC) was prepared for triclosan (TCS) detection by pyrolyzing the precursor of Cu-Zn binuclear metal-organic framework (MOF). The performance for detecting TCS was evaluated using linear scanning voltammetry (LSV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), and the proton and electron numbers during TCS oxidation have been proved to be one-to-one. The results indicated that CuZn@NC can present a satisfactory analysis performance for TCS detection. Under the optimized conditions, the linear response range was 0.2-600 µM and the detection limit was 47.9 nM. The sensor presented good stability (signal current dropped only 2.5% after 21 days) and good anti-interference of inorganic salts and small molecular organic acids. The good recovery (97.5-104.1%) for detecting spiked TCS in commercial products (toothpaste and hand sanitizer) suggested its potential for routine determination of TCS in real samples.

Ecological effect of microplastics on soil microbe-driven carbon circulation and greenhouse gas emission: A review.

Soil organic carbon (SOC) pool, the largest part of terrestrial ecosystem, controls global terrestrial carbon balance and consequently presented carbon cycle-climate feedback in climate projections. Microplastics, (MPs, <5 mm) as common pollutants in soil ecosystems, have an obvious impact on soil-borne carbon circulation by affecting soil microbial processes, which play a central role in regulating SOC conversion. In this review, we initially presented the sources, properties and ecological risks of MPs in soil ecosystem, and then the differentiated effects of MPs on the component of SOC, including dissolved organic carbon, soil microbial biomass carbon and easily oxidized organic carbon varying with the types and concentrations of MPs, the soil types, etc. As research turns into a broader perspective, greenhouse gas emissions dominated by the mineralization of SOC coming into view since it can be significantly affected by MPs and is closely associated with soil microbial respiration. The pathways of MPs impacting soil microbes-driven carbon conversion include changing microbial community structure and composition, the functional enzyme's activity and the abundance and expression of functional genes. However, numerous uncertainties still exist regarding the microbial mechanisms in the deeper biochemical process. More comprehensive studies are necessary to explore the affected footprint and provide guidance for finding the evaluation criterion of MPs affecting climate change.

Enhanced biotoxicity by co-exposure of aged polystyrene and ciprofloxacin: the adsorption and its influence factors.

Microplastics (MPs), as emerging contaminants, usually experience aging processes in natural environments and further affect their interactions with coexisted contaminants, resulting in unpredictable ecological risks. Herein, the effect of MPs aging on their adsorption for coexisting antibiotics and their joint biotoxicity have been investigated. Results showed that the adsorption capacity of aged polystyrene (PS, 100 d and 50 d) for ciprofloxacin (CIP) was 1.10-4.09 times higher than virgin PS due to the larger BET surface area and increased oxygen-containing functional groups of aged PS. Following the increased adsorption capacity of aged PS, the joint toxicity of aged PS and CIP to Shewanella Oneidensis MR-1 (MR-1) was 1.03-1.34 times higher than virgin PS and CIP. Combined with the adsorption process, CIP posed higher toxicity to MR-1 compared to aged PS due to the rapid adsorption of aged PS for CIP in the first 12 h. After that, the adsorption process tended to be gentle and hence the joint toxicity to MR-1 was gradually dominated by aged PS. A similar transformation between the adsorption rate and the joint toxicity of PS and CIP was observed under different conditions. This study supplied a novel perception of the synergistic effects of PS aging and CIP on ecological health.

Contamination status, source analysis and exposure assessments of quinolone antibiotics in the south of Yancheng Coastal Wetland, China.

Yancheng coastal wetland, the largest coastal wetland in the west coast of the Pacific Ocean and the margin of the Asian continent, has significant environmental, economic and social effects on local human beings. The extensive contamination and potential risk of quinolone antibiotics (QNs) on local aquaculture and human health are still not clear until now. In this study, 52 surface sediment samples were collected to investigate the contamination status and polluted sources, and evaluate ecological risks of QNs in the south of Yancheng coastal wetland. The total contents of QNs ranged from 0.33 to 21.60 ng/g dw (mean value of 4.51 ng/g dw), following the detection frequencies of QNs ranging from 19.23 to 94.23%. The highest content of QNs occurred around an aquaculture pond dominated by flumequine. The total organic carbon contents of sediment were positively correlated with sarafloxacin and lomefloxacin (p < 0.05), indicating the enhanced absorption of these QNs onto sediments. Partial QNs, such as lomefloxacin, enrofloxacin, sarafloxacin and flumequine, presented the homology features originating from the emission of medical treatment and aquaculture. There was no potential risk of QNs to human beings but a potential risk to aquatic organisms (algae > plant > invertebrate). Totally, the management and protection of Yancheng coastal wetland should be of concern with aquaculture as the important industry.

Binding of Tetrabromobisphenol A and S to Human Serum Albumin Is Weakened by Coexisting Nanoplastics and Environmental Kosmotropes.

Human serum albumin (HSA) was used as a model protein to explore the effects of brominated flame retardant (BFR) binding and the corona formation on polystyrene nanoplastics (PNs). Under physiological conditions, HSA helped to disperse PNs but promoted the formation of aggregates in the presence of tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA, ΔDh = 135 nm) and S (TBBPS, ΔDh = 256 nm) at pH 7. At pH 4, these aggregates became larger with fewer electrostatic repulsion effects (ΔDh = 920 and 691 nm for TBBPA and TBBPS, respectively). However, such promotion effects as well as BFR binding are different due to structural differences of tetrabromobisphenol A and S. Environmental kosmotropes efficiently stabilized the structure of HSA and inhibited BFR binding, while the chaotropes favored bioconjugated aggregate formation. Such effects were also verified in natural seawater. The newly gained knowledge may help us anticipate the behavior and fate of plastic particles and small molecular pollutants in both physiological and natural aqueous systems.

Copper nanoparticle-decorated nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheets for electrochemical determination of paraquat.

A new strategy to prepare copper (Cu) nanoparticles anchored in nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheets (Cu@CN) has been designed and the nanomaterial applied to the determination of paraquat (PQ). The nanocomposite materials were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and several other techniques. We found that the Cu nanoparticles are uniformly distributed on the carbon materials, providing abundant active sites for electrochemical detection. The electrochemical behavior of the Cu@CN-based PQ sensor was investigated by square-wave voltammetry (SWV). Cu@CN exhibited excellent electrochemical activity and PQ detection performance. The Cu@CN-modified glassy carbon electrode (Cu@CN/GCE) exhibited excellent stability, favorable sensitivity, and high selectivity under optimized conditions (enrichment voltage -0.1 V and enrichment time 400 s) of the SWV test. The detection range reached 0.50 nM to 12.00 µM, and the limit of detection was 0.43 nM with high sensitivity of 18 µA·µM-1·cm-2. The detection limit is 9 times better than that of the high-performance liquid chromatography method. The Cu@CN electrochemical sensor demonstrated excellent sensitivity and selectivity also in environmental water and fruit samples enabling its use in practical, rapid trace-level detection of PQ in environmental samples.

Ultrasensitive Determination of Tetrabromobisphenol A by Covalent Organic Framework Based Solid Phase Microextraction Coupled with Constant Flow Desorption Ionization Mass Spectrometry.

Rapid detection of ultratrace pollutants in complex matrixes is a great challenge for studying their environmental behaviors and impacts. In this work, a method is developed by combining covalent organic framework (COF) based solid phase microextraction (SPME) with constant flow desorption ionization mass spectrometry for rapid detection of trace tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) in multiple water media. The limits of detection and qualification are 0.92 and 3.1 ng L-1 for TBBPA, respectively. The linear range is between 0.01 and 10 µg L-1 ( R2 = 0.9992), and the relative standard deviations with single fiber and multiple fibers are 6.4% and 6.7% (0.1 µg L-1, n = 9), respectively. The detection of nanogram per liter levels of TBBPA in tap water, river water, seawater, and beverage can be achieved in 7 min.

Chlorinated-Methylsiloxanes in Shengli Oilfield: Their Generation in Oil-Production Wastewater Treatment Plant and Presence in the Surrounding Soils.

In two oil-wastewater treatment stations of Shengli Oilfield, cyclic volatile methylsiloxanes (cVMS, D4-D6) in the wastewater stream were found to undergo chlorination during electro-oxidation process for wastewater containing chlorine ions (16.1-42.0 g/L). Their converted fractions were 4.71-28.0% for monochlorinated D4-D6 and 0.22-7.96% for dichlorinated D4, which were ∼2 orders of magnitude higher than those for hydroxylated products. Furthermore, portions of chlorinated methylsiloxanes retained in excess sludge were released to the surrounding soils. In soil samples ( n = 500), chlorinated methylsiloxanes concentrations (

High-performance thin-layer chromatography coupled with HPLC-DAD/HPLC-MS/MS for simultaneous determination of bisphenol A and nine brominated analogs in biological samples.

Bisphenol A (BPA) and its brominated analogs exhibiting bioaccumulation potential, endocrine disruption, and reproductive toxicity have been worldwide detected in water, air, soil, and sediments. But few methods have been proposed for simultaneously determining a variety of these compounds in biological matrices, hindering the further study on their biological transformation/degradation and health risks. In this study, a simple, solvent-saving and sensitive method based on high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) for sample pretreatment coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) (UV = 214 nm)/triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (MS/MS) was developed for determining BPA and its nine brominated analogs in biological samples. The method detection limits (MDLs) and method quantification limits (MQLs) for ten BPA analogs ranged from 0.8 to 685.7 ng g-1 dw (S/N = 3) and 2.7 to 2285.7 ng g-1 dw (S/N = 10), respectively. The recoveries were 64-124% with SD less than 10%. The RSD of intermediate precision was less than 11%, and matrix effects were lower than 19%. Compared with traditional purification procedures, HPTLC largely reduced the workload and procedures for complex biological sample cleanup without inducing decomposition of the analytes. The proposed method exhibited good performance when detecting these ten chemicals in chicken samples from a nearby yard of brominated flame retardant plants, indicating its great potential for investigating their environment level, behavior, and fate in organisms. Graphical abstract ᅟ.

Online High Temporal Resolution Measurement of Atmospheric Sulfate and Sulfur Trioxide with a Light Emitting Diode and Liquid Core Waveguide-Based Sensor.

High temporal resolution components analysis is still a great challenge for the frontier of atmospheric aerosol research. Here, an online high time resolution method for monitoring soluble sulfate and sulfur trioxide in atmospheric aerosols was developed by integrating a membrane-based parallel plate denuder, a particle collector, and a liquid waveguide capillary cell into a flow injection analysis system. The BaCl2 solution (containing HCl, glycerin, and ethanol) was enabled to quantitatively transform sulfate into a well-distributed BaSO4 solution for turbidimetric detection. The time resolution for monitoring the soluble sulfate and sulfur trioxide was 15 h-1. The limits of detection were 86 and 7.3 µg L-1 ( S/ N = 3) with a 20 and 200 µL SO42- solution injection, respectively. Both the interday and intraday precision values (relative standard deviation) were less than 6.0%. The analytical results of the certificated reference materials (GBW(E)08026 and GNM-M07117-2013) were identical to the certified values (no significant difference at a 95% confidence level). The validity and practicability of the developed device were also evaluated during a firecracker day and a routine day, obviously revealing the continuous variance in atmospheric sulfate and sulfur trioxide in both interday and intraday studies.

Identification of Unknown Brominated Bisphenol S Congeners in Contaminated Soils as the Transformation Products of Tetrabromobisphenol S Derivatives.

Compared with tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) and its derivatives, the skeletally similar chemicals tetrabromobisphenol S (TBBPS) and its derivatives have been rarely studied, and very little is known about their structures, environmental occurrence, and behaviors. In this study, a total of 84 soil samples from a chemical industrial park have been collected and analyzed to investigate the occurrence of TBBPS and its derivatives and to identify novel TBBPS analogs. TBBPS, TBBPS bis(2,3-dibromopropyl ether) (TBBPS-BDBPE), and three byproducts, TBBPS mono(allyl ether) (TBBPS-MAE), TBBPS mono(2-bromoallyl ether) (TBBPS-MBAE), and TBBPS mono(2,3-dibromopropyl ether) (TBBPS-MDBPE), have been detected with contents ranging from below detection limits to 1934.6 ng/g dw and with detection frequencies of 21.4-97.6%. In addition, another 5 unknown TBBPS analogs, tribromobisphenol S (TriBBPS), 2,2',6'-TriBBPS-MAE (TriBBPS-MAE3.2), 2,6,2'-TriBBPS-MAE (TriBBPS-MAE3.4), 2',6'-DBBPS-MAE (DBBPS-MAE2.0), and 2,6-DBBPS-MAE (DBBPS-MAE2.6), have been identified in these soil samples by untargeted mass spectrometry screening. These unknown analogs have also been observed in laboratory transformation experiments of TBBPS-MDBPE conducted under reducing conditions. TriBBPS-MAE3.4 and DBBPS-MAE2.6 were more likely to be produced than TriBBPS-MAE3.2 and DBBPS-MAE2.0 due to the stereoselectivity of the transformation. TriBBPS-MAE3.4 and DBBPS-MAE2.0 were more stable, resulting in higher detection frequencies of these compounds in soil samples. Ether bond breakage and debromination contributed to the generation of these novel products. The results provide new information on the behaviors of TBBPS and its derivatives in the environment.

In Situ Determination of Bisphenol A in Beverage Using a Molybdenum Selenide/Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanoparticle Composite Modified Glassy Carbon Electrode.

Due to the endocrine disturbing effects of bisphenol A (BPA) on organisms, rapid detection has become one of the most important techniques for monitoring its levels in the aqueous solutions associated with plastics and human beings. In this paper, a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with molybdenum selenide/reduced graphene oxide (MoSe2/rGO) was fabricated for in situ determination of bisphenol A in several beverages. The surface area of the electrode dramatically increases due to the existence of ultra-thin nanosheets in a flower-like structure of MoSe2. Adding phosphotungstic acid in the electrolyte can significantly enhance the repeatability (RSD = 0.4%) and reproducibility (RSD = 2.2%) of the electrode. Under the optimized condition (pH = 6.5), the linear range of BPA was from 0.1 µM⁻100 µM and the detection limit was 0.015 µM (S/N = 3). When using the as-prepared electrode for analyzing BPA in beverage samples without any pretreatments, the recoveries ranged from 98⁻107%, and the concentrations were from below the detection limit to 1.7 µM, indicating its potential prospect for routine analysis of BPA.

Mass spectral chemical fingerprints reveal the molecular dependence of exhaust particulate matters on engine speeds.

Particulate matters (PMs) emitted by automobile exhaust contribute to a significant fraction of the global PMs. Extractive atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry (EAPCI-MS) was developed to explore the molecular dependence of PMs collected from exhaust gases produced at different vehicle engine speeds. The mass spectral fingerprints of the organic compounds embedded in differentially sized PMs (e.g., 0.22-0.45, 0.45-1.00, 1.00-2.00, 2.00-3.00, 3.00-5.00, and 5.00-10.00µm) generated at different engine speeds (e.g., 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500, and 3000r/min) were chemically profiled in the mass range of mass to charge ratio (m/z) 50-800. Organic compounds, including alcohols, aldehydes, and esters, were detected in all the PMs tested, with varied concentration levels for each individual PM sample. At relatively low engine speeds (≤1500r/min), the total amount of organic species embedded in PMs of 0.22-1.00µm was greater than in PMs of other sizes, while more organic species were found in PMs of 5.00-10.00µm at high engine speeds (≥3000r/min), indicating that the organic compounds distributed in different sizes of PMs strongly correlated with the engine speed. The experimental data showed that the EAPCI-MS technique enables molecular characterization of PMs in exhaust, revealing the chemical dependence of PMs on the engine speeds (i.e., the combustion conditions) of automobiles.

High Time-Resolution Optical Sensor for Monitoring Atmospheric Nitrogen Dioxide.

High time-resolution monitoring of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is of great importance for studying the formation mechanism of aerosols and improving air quality. Based on the Griess-Saltzman (GS) reaction, a portable NO2 optical sensor was developed by employing a porous polypropylene membrane tube (PPMT) integrated gas permeation collector and detector. The PPMT was filled with GS reagents and covered with a coaxial jacket tube for gas collection. Its two ends were respectively fixed with a yellowish-green light-emitting diode and a photodiode for optic signal reception. NO2 was automatically introduced through the collector by two air pumps cooperating with a homemade gas injector. Under the optimized conditions, the device presented good performance for monitoring NO2, such as a limit of detection of 5.1 ppbv (parts per billion by volume), an intraday precision of 4.1% (RSD, relative standard deviation, n = 11, c = 100 ppbv), an interday precision of 5.7% (RSD, n = 2-3 per day for 5 days, c = 100 ppbv), an analysis time of 4.0 min, and a linearity range extended to 700 ppbv. The developed device was successfully applied to analyzing outdoor air with a comparable precision to that of the standard method of China. The high time-resolution characteristic that includes sampling 15 times per hour and a good stability for 10 days of urban air analysis had also been evaluated.

Characteristics of PAHs in farmland soil and rainfall runoff in Tianjin, China.

Rainfall runoff can remove certain amounts of pollutants from contaminated farmland soil and result in a decline in water quality. However, the leaching behaviors of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with rainfall have been rarely reported due to wide variations in the soil compositions, rainfall conditions, and sources of soil PAHs in complex farmland ecosystems. In this paper, the levels, spatial distributions, and composition profiles of PAHs in 30 farmland soil samples and 49 rainfall-runoff samples from the Tianjin region in 2012 were studied to investigate their leaching behaviors caused by rainfall runoff. The contents of the Σ16PAHs ranged from 58.53 to 3137.90 µg/kg in the soil and 146.58 to 3636.59 µg/L in the runoff. In total, most of the soil sampling sites (23 of 30) were contaminated, and biomass and petroleum combustion were proposed as the main sources of the soil PAHs. Both the spatial distributions of the soil and the runoff PAHs show a decreasing trend moving away from the downtown, which suggested that the leaching behaviors of PAHs in a larger region during rainfall may be mainly affected by the compounds themselves. In addition, 4- and 5-ring PAHs are the dominant components in farmland soil and 3- and 4-ring PAHs dominate the runoff. Comparisons of the PAH pairs and enrichment ratios showed that acenaphthylene, acenaphthene, benzo[a]anthracene, chrysene, and fluoranthene were more easily transferred into water systems from soil than benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, benzo[ghi]perylene, and indeno[123-cd]pyrene, which indicated that PAHs with low molecular weight are preferentially dissolved due to their higher solubility compared to those with high molecular weight.

Enhanced sinks of polystyrene nanoplastics (PSNPs) in marine sediment compared to freshwater sediment: Influencing factors and mechanisms.

The difference in the transport behaviors of nanoplastics consistently assistant with their toxicities to benthic and other aquatic organisms is still unclear between freshwater and marine sediments. Here, the mobilities of polystyrene nanoplastics (PSNPs) and key environmental factors including salinity and humic acid (HA) were systematically studied. In the sand column experiments, both tested PSNPs in the freshwater system (100 nm NPs (100NPs): 90.15 %; 500 nm NPs (500NPs): 54.22 %) presented much higher penetration ratio than in the marine system (100NPs: 8.09 %; 500NPs: 19.04 %). The addition of marine sediment with a smaller median grain diameter caused a much more apparent decline in NPs mobility (100NPs: from 8.09 % to 1.85 %; 500NPs: from 19.04 % to 3.51 %) than that containing freshwater sediment (100NPs: from 90.15 % to 83.56 %; 500NPs: from 54.22 % to 41.63 %). Interestingly, adding HA obviously led to decreased and slightly increased mobilities for NPs in freshwater systems, but dramatically improved performance for NPs in marine systems. Electrostatic and steric repulsions, corresponding to alteration of zeta potential and hydrodynamic diameter of NPs and sands, as well as minerals owing to adsorption of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and aggregations from varied salinity, are responsible for the mobility difference.

The weakened physiological functions of human serum albumin in presence of polystyrene nanoplastics.

Due to the widespread presence of nanoplastics (NPs) in daily essentials and drinking water, the potential adverse effects of NPs on human health have become a global concern. Human serum albumin (HSA), the most abundant and multi-functional protein in plasma, has been chosen to understand the biological effects of NPs after entering the blood. The esterase activity and the transport of bisphenol A in the presence of polystyrene nanoplastics (PSNPs) under physiological conditions (pH 4.0 and 7.4) have been investigated to evaluate the possible biological effects. The interactions between PSNPs and HSA have also been systematically studied by multispectral methods and dynamic light scattering techniques. The esterase activity of HSA presented a decreased trend with increasing PSNPs; conversely, higher permeabilities are accompanied by higher amounts of PSNPs. Compared with the unchanged hydrodynamic diameter and weaker interactions at pH 7.4, stronger binding between HSA and PSNPs at pH 4.0 led to a significant increase in the particle size of the PSNPs-HSA complex. The quenching mechanism belonged to the static quenching type. The electrostatic force is proposed to be the dominant factor for PSNPs binding to HSA. The work provides some information about the toxicity of NPs when exposed to humans.

Spatial distributions and deposition chronology of short chain chlorinated paraffins in marine sediments across the Chinese Bohai and Yellow Seas.

As the most complex halogenated contaminants, short chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) are scarcely reported in marine environments. In this work, a total of 117 surficial sediment (0-3 cm) samples and two sediment cores were collected from the Chinese Bohai and Yellow Seas to systematically study the spatial and temporal trends of SCCPs at a large scale in the Chinese marine environment. Total SCCP concentrations in the surficial sediments were in the range of 14.5-85.2 ng g(-1) (dry weight, d.w.) with an average level of 38.4 ng g(-1) d.w. Spatial distribution showed a decreasing trend with the distance from the coast to the open waters. Compositional pattern analysis suggested that C10 was the most predominant homologue group, followed by C11, C12, and C13 homologue groups. The concentrations of total SCCPs in sediment cores ranged from 11.6 to 94.7 ng g(-1) d.w. for YS1 and from 14.7 to 195.6 ng g(-1) d.w. for YS2, with sharp rise from the early 1950s to present based on (210)Pb dating technique. The historical records in cores correspond well to the production and usage changes of CPs in China. Multivariate regression statistics indicate TOC, latitude and longitude are the major factors influencing surficial SCCP levels in the Chinese East Seas by combining analysis with the data from the East China Sea (R(2) = 0.332, p < 0.01). These findings indicated that the sources of SCCPs were mainly from river outflows via ocean current and partly from atmospheric depositions by East Asian monsoon in the sampling areas.

Source and migration of short-chain chlorinated paraffins in the coastal East China Sea using multiproxies of marine organic geochemistry.

Multiple proxies of terrestrial organic matters (TOM) were introduced to study the migration behaviors of short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) in the coastal East China Sea (ECS). The contents of SCCPs in the surface sediment collected from Changjiang (Yangtze) River Delta (CRD) and along the Zhejiang-Fujian coastline ranged from 9.0 to 37.2 ng/g (dry weight, d.w.), displaying a "band-style" distribution trend. Spatial distribution patterns of SCCP congeners presented an increasing trend seaward and southward along the coastline for shorter carbon length (C10 + C11) and lower chlorinated (Cl5 + Cl6 + Cl7) congeners, suggesting a spreading tendency seaward and southward from the CRD and the north of the inner shelf. The significant relationship between ΣSCCPs and total organic carbons (TOC) (r(2) = 0.402, p < 0.05) indicated that the migration of SCCPs in sediments was markedly affected by TOC. The spatial patterns of the TOM proxies of TOC δ(13)C, the contents of ΣC27 + C29 + C31 n-alkanes, terrestrial marine biomarker ratio (TMBR), and terrestrial TOC (T-TOC) were all similar to that of ΣSCCPs. Linear relationships between SCCP contents and both the contents of ΣC27 + C29 + C31 n-alkanes (r(2) = 0.537, p < 0.05) and T-TOC (r(2) = 0.495, p < 0.05) were also observed. The consistence demonstrated that a major portion of sedimentary SCCPs in the coastal ECS should be from the river input of Changjiang River and deposited in the CRD and along the inner shelf of the ECS, but only a minor fraction was transported to the offshore areas.