Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT
Volume 188, Issue 5, Pages -Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s10661-016-5288-1
Keywords
Fingerprinting; Fuel distribution station; Soil and groundwater contamination; Volatile fuel compounds; DRO
Categories
Funding
- Galician Government (Conselleria de Innovacion e Industria of Xunta de Galicia) [INCITE08PXIB200136PR]
- Spanish Government (Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad)
- FEDER [CTM2009-14576-C02-02, BES-2010-030923]
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Soil and groundwater contamination around a fuel distribution station in Tomino (NW Spain) was evaluated. For this purpose, top and subsoil (up to 6.4 m) and groundwater were sampled around the station, approximately in a 60-m radius. Samples were analysed by HS-SPME-GC-MS to identify and quantify volatile fuel organic compounds (VFOC) (MTBE, ETBE and BTEX) and diesel range organics (DRO). Analysis and fingerprinting data suggested that the contamination of soil and groundwater was provoked by a fuel leak from underground storage tanks. This was reflected by hydrocarbon indices and principal component analysis, which discriminated a direct source of contamination of the subsoil samples around the station. The contaminants probably migrated from tank nearby soils to surrounding soils and leached to groundwater, following a SW direction. Irrigation with contaminated groundwater provoked a severe contamination of topsoils, which were enriched with the lightest components of gasoline and diesel. Fingerprinting also revealed the continuity of the leak, reflected by the presence of volatiles in some samples, which principally appeared in fresh leaks. MTBE was detected in a very high concentration in groundwater samples (up to 690 mu g L-1), but it was not detected in fresh gasoline. This also evidenced an old source of contamination, probably starting in the mid-1990s, when the use of MTBE in gasoline was regulated.
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