Wet deposition of hydrocarbons in the city of Tehran-Iran.

Air pollution in the city of Tehran has been a major problem for the past three decades. The direct effects of hydrocarbon contaminants in the air are particularly important such as their carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic effects which can be transported to other environments via dry and wet deposition. In the present study, rainwater samples were collected and analyzed for 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, and xylene (BTEX) as well as fuel fingerprints in two ranges of gasoline (C5-C11) and diesel fuel (C12-C20) using a gas chromatograph equipped with a flame ionization detector (GC/FID). Mean concentrations of summation operator16 PAHs varied between 372 and 527 microg/L and for BTEX was between 87 and 188 microg/L with maximum of 36 microg/L for toluene. Both gasoline range hydrocarbons (GRH) and diesel range hydrocarbons (DRH) were also present in the collected rainwater at concentrations of 190 and 950 microg/L, respectively. Hydrocarbon transports from air to soil were determined in this wet deposition. Average hydrocarbon transportation for summation operatorPAHs, BTEX, GRH, and DRH was 2,747, 627, 1,152, and 5,733 microg/m(2), respectively.