Environmental processes and fate of PAHs at a shallow and enclosed bay: West Nanao Bay, Noto Peninsula, Japan.

ABSTRACT

From August 2019 to August 2020, particulate and dissolved polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons concentrations (PAHs) were analyzed in the water body of West Nanao Bay, Japan, to determinate their levels, environmental pathways, and ecological risks at this remote but shallow and semi-enclosed bay. The 14 targeted PAHs were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence detector. Even when water column stratifies, the summatory of 14 targeted dissolved PAHs did not follow significantly change with depth. Results agreed with our previous findings in the surface distribution at the bay and can be attributed to long retention time of the water mass of the semi-enclosed bay. Suspended solids start precipitating according to their size; with biggest particles rapidly settling in the proximities of river mouths. Partition coefficients (Kp) varied from 103 to 107, according to molecular weights. In general, highest Kp were found in the nepheloid layer. The risk quotients, RQ∑14 PAHs (NCs) (1.04-174.08), indicated that PAHs represented a very low to low environmental risks.