Vertical transport of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in different particle-size fractions of sandy soils

Vertical transport of selected polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in different particle-size fractions of sandy soils was investigated by simulation experiments in soil columns. Tested soil samples were fractionized into three particle-sizes including sand, coarse silt and fine silt (2,000–50, 50–20 and <20 μm). Rainfall simulations were conducted in artificially PAHs contaminated soil columns with 30 cm length and 5 cm diameter in 40 days. PAHs were extracted from soil samples and determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results showed that the residue level of PAHs in fine silt fraction reached 35.85 mg/kg, which was significantly higher than those in sand and coarse silt fraction (16.28 and 11.80 mg/kg, respectively), probably because PAHs in macroporous fractions were prone to volatilize or degrade compared with that in microporous fractions. Linear relationship between the residue levels of individual PAH (R _PAHs) and the value of partition coefficient (log K _oc) was regressed as R _PAHs = 1.55 × log K _oc − 5.86, R ² = 0.91, n = 9. These results indicated that vertical transport of the mixed PAHs in soils were controlled both by the nature of PAHs (i.e. log K _oc, molecular weight), soil particle size and soil organic contents, which could influence the transport of PAHs.