Hydrocarbon Contamination in Sediment Offshore Yesilirmak River, Black Sea, Turkey

Abstract

Input of harmful substances, oil in particular, constitute an essential threat on the semi-enclosed ecosystem of the Black Sea, especially as hot spots scattered near main sea ports and river discharges. Most of the Anatolian rivers carry the loads of leading provinces of Turkey in terms of industrial production. This paper attempts to measure the level of aromatic hydrocarbons on the shelf sediments in front of the Yesilirmak River and characterize their type, by measuring total aromatic hydrocarbons [TH] contents and evaluating synchronous excitation/emission scans (SUVF). In addition to chrysene, which is useful for comparability of the results with available data, a combined reference material obtained from seven different crude oils used and transported in the Black Sea region, called as Thetis-Oil, was used as reference of fluorescence signals. Total aromatic hydrocarbon levels ranged from 32 to 122 mu g/g. On the basis of SUVF spectra of families representing aromatic structures, 5-ring PAHs, generated by pyrolysis reactions during combustion of fossil fuels such as Benzopyrene derivatives, are dominant for distant muddy stations while 3-4 ring PAHs are dominant for the coarse grained shallow sediments close to the river mouth, where we have also detected a remarkable amount of vanadium.