Distribution and Characteristic of PAHs in snow of the Urban and Reserve Areas of Southern Far East Russia.

The 16 priority PAHs were qualitatively and quantitatively assessed in snow samples collected at 9 stations in the City of Khabarovsk and at 3 stations in the Bol'shekhekhtsirsky State Nature Reserve during 2014-2015 and 2016-2017. The HPLC analysis revealed that the range of Σ13PAH concentrations detected in snow collected in the Khabarovsk City area during 2015 and 2017 were between 42.83 and 441.13 and 43.00-695.73 ng/L, while in the reserve area concentrations were 34.77-59.61 and 38.92-79.80 ng/L, respectively. The markers identified pyrogenic, petrogenic and mixed sources of emission. The toxic equivalent quantity varied in the urban and reserve areas from 0.89 to 40.62 ng/L and from 1.01 to 2.92 ng/L accordingly. BaP mainly contributed (56.4%-86.2%) to the total PAH toxicity. The transboundary transfer of BaP and anthracene was revealed in the reserve area. The quality of the snow polluted by polyarenes is satisfactory in the study areas except for city roads.