Abstract

The concentration and distribution of 17 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in some rural agricultural wetland soils of the Niger delta region, Nigeria was determined. There were measurable amounts of naphthalene, acenaphthalene, acenaphthene, fluorene, phenanthrene, anthracene, fluoranthene, pyrene, benzo-(a)anthracene, chrysene and benzo(b)fluoranthene. Benzo(a)pyrene, benzo-(k)fluoranthene, indeno(1,2,3)perylene, dibenzo(a,h)anthracene and benzo-(g,h,i)perylene were not detected in the soils. There were also significant correlations between the occurrences of some of the PAHs. However, the concentrations of the PAHs obtained were within the background levels expected for rural agricultural soils. The PAHs levels obtained in this study would act as baseline levels of these persistent organic pollutants in this environment with about 50 abandoned oil wells that are now been reactivated for completion and production.

Key words: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, wetland soils.