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Distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediments of Akaki River, Lake Awassa, and Lake Ziway, Ethiopia

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Abstract

The quantification of 14 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was carried out in sediment samples collected from Akaki River, Lake Awassa, and Lake Ziway, Ethiopia. The concentration of PAHs in the samples was determined using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode, after microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), using acetone/n-hexane (1:1, v/v) mixture. The accuracy of the method was determined by extracting and analyzing New York/New Jersey waterway sediment standard reference material (SRM 1944). The measured concentrations of PAHs in SRM 1944 agreed well with the certified values. In samples from Akaki River, Lake Awassa, and Lake Ziway, the total content of PAHs determined ranged from 0 to 3070 ng/g (average 534 ng/g), 24.9 to 413 ng/g (average 169 ng/g), and 15.0 to 305 ng/g (average 175 ng/g), respectively. Source ratios indicated that the PAHs were mainly from petrogenic origin. Sediments from all sampling sites indicated negligible levels of toxicity with no risk of adverse biological effects.

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Acknowledgments

The financial assistances of the Office of Research and Graduate Programs of Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia, are gratefully acknowledged. Moreover, the Department of Chemistry of Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Department of Chemistry of Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa, are duly acknowledged for allowing us to use the laboratory facilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Addis Ababa University, P. O. Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Kebede Nigussie Mekonnen, Bhagwan Singh Chandravanshi & Mesfin Redi-Abshiro

  2. Department of Chemistry, Mekelle University, P. O. Box 231, Mekelle, Ethiopia

    Kebede Nigussie Mekonnen

  3. Department of Chemistry, Tshwane University of Technology, P. O. Box 56208, Arcadia, 0007, South Africa

    Kebede Nigussie Mekonnen & Robert Ian McCrindle

  4. Department of Chemistry, University of Limpopo, Private Bag x1106, Sovenga, 0727, South Africa

    Abayneh Ataro Ambushe

  5. School of Chemistry, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, P. O. Box Wits 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Stanley Moyo

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  1. Kebede Nigussie Mekonnen
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  2. Bhagwan Singh Chandravanshi
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  3. Mesfin Redi-Abshiro
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Correspondence to Mesfin Redi-Abshiro.

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Mekonnen, K.N., Chandravanshi, B.S., Redi-Abshiro, M. et al. Distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediments of Akaki River, Lake Awassa, and Lake Ziway, Ethiopia. Environ Monit Assess 187, 474 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-015-4669-1

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