| Title: | Assessment of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the Himalayan Riverine Network of Azad Jammu and Kashmir |
| Author(s): | Ullah R; Asghar R; Baqar M; Mahmood A; Alamdar A; Qadir A; Sohail M; Schafer RB; Musstjab Akber Shah Eqani SA; |
| Address: | "Department of Biotechnology, Mirpur University of Science and Technology (MUST), Mirpur, 10250, AJK, Pakistan; Department of Zoology, Mirpur University of Science and Technology (MUST), Mirpur, 10250, AJK, Pakistan. Department of Biotechnology, Mirpur University of Science and Technology (MUST), Mirpur, 10250, AJK, Pakistan. Sustainable Development Study Centre, Government College University, Lahore, 54000, Pakistan. Electronic address: mujtababaqar@gcu.edu.pk. Department of Environmental Sciences, Government College Women University, Sialkot, 51310, Pakistan. Ecohealth and Environment Lab, Department of Biosciences, COMSATS University, Islamabad 45550, Pakistan. College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore, 54590, Pakistan. Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Koblenz-Landau, Landau in der Pfalz 76829, Germany. Ecohealth and Environment Lab, Department of Biosciences, COMSATS University, Islamabad 45550, Pakistan. Electronic address: ali_ebl2@yahoo.com" |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.124762 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1879-1298 (Electronic) 0045-6535 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "The emission of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in South Asian countries is one of the great environmental concerns and has resulted in the contamination of surrounding high altitude regions such as Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Pakistan. This first investigation of Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCBs) concentrations in the ambient air, water and surface soil was conducted along the extensive stream network in the AJK valley of the Himalayan Region. In 2014, surface soil samples were taken and passive air and water samplers were deployed along the four main rivers, namely Jhelum, Neelum, Poonch and Kunhar, and analysed for PCBs (33 congeners) using GC-MS/MS. The summation operator(33)PCBs concentrations ranged from 31.17 to 175.2 (mean?ª++/-?ª+SD: 81?ª++/-?ª+46.4?ª+pg/L), ND to 1908 (1054?ª++/-?ª+588.5?ª+pg/g), and 29.8 to 94.4 (52.9?ª++/-?ª+22.7?ª+pg/m(3)) in surface water, soil and air matrices, respectively. The levels of dioxin-like PCBs ( summation operator(8)DL-PCBs) contributed considerably towards the total PCBs concentrations: 60.63% (water), 43.87% (air) and 13.76% (soil). The log transformed air-water fugacity (log fa/fw) ratios ranged from -9.37 to 2.58; with 86.3% of the sampling sites showing net volatilization of selected PCB congeners. Similarly, the fugacity fractions for air-soil exchange exhibited narrow variation (0.8 to?ª+ |
| Keywords: | "Air Pollutants/*analysis *Environmental Monitoring Pakistan Polychlorinated Biphenyls/*analysis Rivers Soil Soil Pollutants/analysis Tandem Mass Spectrometry Volatilization Water/analysis Water Pollutants, Chemical/analysis Air-soil exchange Air-water exc;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineUllah, Rizwan Asghar, Rehana Baqar, Mujtaba Mahmood, Adeel Alamdar, Ambreen Qadir, Abdul Sohail, Muhammad Schafer, Ralf B Musstjab Akber Shah Eqani, Syed Ali eng England 2019/10/01 Chemosphere. 2020 Feb; 240:124762. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.124762. Epub 2019 Sep 9" |
