Hydrocarbon-based indicators for characterizing potential sources of coal-derived pollution in the vicinity of the Ostrava City

Coaly material enters various environmental compartments from different emission sources and on diverse pathways. The complexity of both the emission processes and the quality of contamination in the Ostrava region avoids a simple source correlation for coal-derived pollution. Hence, this study focused on the application of different geochemical approaches for source apportionment using bulk parameters, aliphatic biomarkers and source-specific PAH ratios. Major aim was to prove the effectiveness of the applied methods for characterizing the impact of coal-derived contamination in complex emission systems such as in the Ostrava region. Individual emission sources were discriminated sufficiently by TOC vs. TEH relationship and two-dimensional correlations of PAH ratios. Additionally, aliphatic biomarkers revealed individual signatures for all classes of samples and pointed to a widespread distribution of fossil material also in the hydrosphere. On the contrary, indicative PAH ratios documented a dominance of pyrogenic over petrogenic-derived organic matter in the lake sediments investigated. These contradictory descriptions demonstrate clearly that only a comprehensive application of different marker systems allows a detailed view on the quality and quantity of coal-derived pollution. Lastly, it remains unclear whether coaly material in aquatic sediments acts as sink or source for PAHs. A proposed indicative marker, the ratio of phenanthrene over retene, failed.