Participation of Plants in the Formation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Peatlands

The composition of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in vegetation of natural hummocky peatlands in the forest-tundra subzone of the Komi Republic and its possible impact on the composition of polyarenes in peat were assessed. The content of polyarenes was estimated by the method of highly efficient liquid chromatography. The accumulation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons was the highest in Polytrichum strictum, Betula pubescens, and shoots of Picea abies and smaller in Betula nana L., Salix lapponum L., and Carex limosa L. with the domination of low-molecular-weight PAHs. We did not reveal dibenz[a,h]anthracene and benzo[ghi]perylene in plants: they could be the products of soil-forming processes. It is shown that distribution patterns of PAHs in the permafrost-affected soils of peat mounds (Hemic Folic Cryic Histosols) and in the soils of open-water mire pools (Fibric Floatic Histosols) are similar. Small quantities of low-molecular-weight polyarenes were normally accumulated in the seasonally thawed layer. The content of heavy structures (mainly, benzo[ghi]perylene) strongly increased at the contact with permafrost and then slightly decreased in the underlying permafrost. The composition of PAHs in the active layer mainly depended on composition of polyarenes in plants. At the contact with permafrost, the active synthesis or release of high-molecular-weight compounds took place. The influence of the composition of PAHs in plants on their composition in peat greatly depended on the degree of peat decomposition. Reasoning from the natural model of peat formation in open-water mire pools, the composition of polyarenes in the upper peat horizons of such sites was affected by recombination of low-molecular-weight hydrocarbons in Sphagnum riparium and Eriophorum sp. In the course of long-term soil development, the decomposition of complex organic compounds in plant tissues (particularly, in Eriophorum sp.) results in the formation of heavy PAHs with a simultaneous increase in the content of low-molecular-weight polyarenes.