Contamination and Sources Identification of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Water and Sediments of Annaba Bay Basin, Algeria

Annaba gulf is a coastal area (southwestern Mediterranean Sea) that receives large diffuse inputs from Fertial plant, Seybouse wadi and Boujemaâ wadi, which are influenced by anthropogenic activities. Wastewaters and surface waters and sediments from these sites were analyzed for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (16 PAHs) by using gas chromatography system operating with the flame ionizing detector (FID). Total PAHs ranged from 0.033 to 0.503 µg L –1 in water, and from 32.44 to 509.58 µg kg –1 dw in sediments. In order to identify pollution emission sources of PAHs, three source identification techniques were used, including diagnostic ratios, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA). The results show that the pollution originated mainly from pyrogenic inputs in water and sediments. Annaba Bay basin is contaminated mainly by heavy PAHs discards originated from domestic and industrial wastewaters and traffic emissions.