Organic compound tracers of fine soil and sand particles during summer in the metropolitan area of Riyadh,Saudi Arabia |
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| Authors: | Khalid Al-Mutlaq Ahmed I Rushdi Bernd R T Simoneit |
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| Institution: | (1) Department of Plant Protection, College of Food and Agriculture Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia;(2) Environmental and Petroleum Geochemistry Group, College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA |
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| Abstract: | Soil and sand fine particles, which may be resuspended as fine dust in the atmosphere, contain a variety of anthropogenic
and natural organic components. Samples of fine soil and sand particles (sieved to <125 μM) were collected from the Riyadh
area in the summer of 2003 and extracted with a mixture of dichloromethane and methanol (3:1, v:v). The derivatized total
extracts were analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry in order to characterize the composition and sources of the
organic components. Both anthropogenic and natural biogenic inputs were the major sources of the organic compounds in these
extracts. Discarded plastics and vehicular emission products were the major anthropogenic sources in the fine particles from
populated areas of the city. Their tracers were plasticizers, UCM, n-alkanes, hopanes and traces of steranes. Vegetation was the major natural source of organic compounds in samples from outside
Riyadh and included n-alkanols, n-alkanoic acids, n-alkanes, methyl alkanoates, sterols and triterpenoids. Carbohydrates had high concentrations (42–54%) in all samples and
indicate sources from decomposition of cellulose and/or the presence of viable microbiota such as bacteria and fungi. The
results were also compared with the data obtained in winter 2002 and showed that anthropogenic inputs were higher in summer
than in winter, whereas the opposite trend was observed for natural inputs. |
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| Keywords: | Biomarkers Carbohydrates Lipids Petroleum residues Plasticizers UCM |
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