Spatial distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from Lake Taihu, China.

A total of 30 sediments, overlying water and porewater samples were collected from Lake Taihu, China for the analysis of PAHs. The total PAHs varied from 209 to 3,843 ng g⁻¹ in sediments, from 238 to 7,422 ng L⁻¹ in overlying water and from 2,012 to 19,899 ng L⁻¹ in porewater, respectively. There are good correlations between sediment-porewater/sediment-overlying water partition coefficients and PAHs' logKow values, with correlation coefficient of 0.94 and 0.95, respectively. The sediment PAHs in Lake Taihu originated from both pyrolytic and petrogenic sources, showing a mixed input pattern. Based on the numerical effect-based sediment quality guidelines of the United States, the sediments from Lake Taihu causing adverse effects by PAHs should have potential biological impact, but should have no impairment.