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Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Contamination in South Carolina Salt Marsh-Tidal Creek Systems: Relationships Among Sediments, Biota, and Watershed Land Use

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Abstract

Sediments and biota from 11 tidal creeks were sampled and classified into forested, suburban, and urban/industrial watershed land-use categories. Total PAH levels (∑PAH16) in sediments were significantly higher in urban/industrialized creeks (5,795 ± 1,173 ng/g) compared to suburban (793 ± 131 ng/g) and forested (238 ± 34 ng/g) creeks. No differences in ∑PAH16 levels among land-use classifications were found for either oligochaetes (Monopylephorus rubroniveus) or grass shrimp (Palaemonetes pugio). However, ∑PAH16 levels in grass shrimp were related to sediment ∑PAH16 levels and ∑PAH16 levels in oligochaetes and grass shrimp eggs were related to impervious cover in the watershed. Diagnostic ratios suggest that the primary sources of PAH in suburban and urban/industrialized creeks are pyrogenic. Carcinogenic PAH contents of sediments and biota were related to impervious cover. While human exposures to these sediment-associated carcinogens were not assessed, levels of several carcinogenic PAHs in sediments of urban/industrial tidal creeks were above the levels that represent an increased cancer risk in humans.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to acknowledge Kevin Crawford (University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh) for technical assistance and Danny Gustafson (The Citadel) for statistical advice. Field and logistical support was provided by the staff at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Oceans and Human Health Center of Excellence at the Hollings Marine Laboratory, particularly Guy DiDonato, Anne Blair, and Fred Holland, and the staff at the Marine Resources Research Institute (South Carolina Department of Natural Resources). This research was made possible through grant funds to D.S. from the NOAA Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research/Coastal Ocean Program, through the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium (No. NA960PO113), and to J.W. through The Citadel Foundation.

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  1. Department of Biology, The Citadel, Charleston, SC, 29409, USA

    Thomas R. Garner & John E. Weinstein

  2. South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium, Charleston, SC, 29401, USA

    Denise M. Sanger

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  1. Thomas R. Garner
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Correspondence to John E. Weinstein.

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Garner, T.R., Weinstein, J.E. & Sanger, D.M. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Contamination in South Carolina Salt Marsh-Tidal Creek Systems: Relationships Among Sediments, Biota, and Watershed Land Use. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 57, 103–115 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-008-9256-9

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