POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC-HYDROCARBONS IN NORWEGIAN FOREST SOILS - IMPACT OF LONG-RANGE ATMOSPHERIC TRANSPORT

Levels of nine selected polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PAHs, in sur face soils from areas in southern and central Norway are presented. Le vels in central Norway are generally low, while the southern Norway so ils are about ten-fold higher with respect to 4 and 5 ring PAHs. Compa rison with air quality data indicates long-range atmospheric transport to be the major source of the excess 4 and 5 ring PAHs in the south. Analyses of peat cores fi om ombrotrophic bogs support this assumption , and these provide a potentially useful approach for temporal studies of atmospheric PAH deposition. Analytical data for naphthalene in soi ls depend very much on the sampling and storage of the samples before analysis. Copyright (C) 1996 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd