Evaluation of Soil Contamination by Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Gipuzkoa (Northern Spain)

Representative polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) of low-medium molecular weight were determined using headspace solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector (HS-SPME-GC-FID) in ten surface soil samples from Gipuzkoa (Northern Spain). The sum of the PAHs ranged from 0.21 to 136.26 mg kg(-1). Pyrene and chrysene were the most abundant detected PAHs with an average concentration around 3.1 mg kg(-1). Pearson's correlation and PAH isomer ratios were applied to study the different origins of contamination. The results indicated that the PAH contamination in the studied area was a mixed pattern of pyrolytic and petrogenic inputs. Multivariate exploratory techniques, principal component analysis (PCA), and cluster analysis (CA) were also applied corroborating the PAH compounds patterns in the soils.