Spatial Characteristics and Major Sources of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons from Soil and Respirable Particulate Matter in a Mega-City, China

As one of China’s great metropolises, Taiyuan is generally recognized to be one of the most polluted cities from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the world. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine a total of 16 PAH concentrations in various environmental media in Taiyuan. The total PAHs concentration ranged from 1.0 to 26 μg g−1 in soil, 1.2 × 102 to 1.4 × 103 ng m−3 in PM 2.5 and 76 to 1.1 × 103 ng m−3 in PM 10, respectively. Furthermore, the primary source of PAHs was coal combustion, but the samples were also affected to varying degrees by traffic emissions.