Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in soils along a rural-urban-rural transect: Sources, concentration gradients, and profiles
2011
Gevao, Bondi | Ghadban, Abdul Nabi | Uddin, Saif | Jaward, Foday M. | Bahloul, Majed | Zafar, Jamal
This study reports concentrations of PBDEs in surface soil samples collected along a 140km transect across Kuwait to assess the role of urban centers as sources of persistent organic pollutants to the surrounding environment. The ΣPBDE concentrations varied by a factor of ∼250 and ranged from 289 to 80,078pgg⁻¹d.w. The concentrations of PBDEs in Kuwait City were significantly higher (p<0.01) than those collected from sites outside the city supporting the hypothesis that urban centers are sources of PBDEs. The congener profiles were dominated by BDE-209, accounting for 93% of the PBDEs in the soil samples. The concentrations of all congeners (except BDE-209) were highly correlated with percent organic carbon (%OC) (p>0.05) when the data from Kuwait City was omitted from the analysis. These findings suggest that soil concentrations outside the urban centers were close to equilibrium with the atmosphere.
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