Hydrocarbons in soils: Origin, composition, and behavior (Review)

It has been shown that a large body of evidence on the sources, transformation, and migration of hydrocarbons in soils has been acquired by different researchers. Available data about the origin and behavior of hydrocarbon gases, total petroleum hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, alkanes, and other compounds have been considered successively. A wide range of natural and anthropogenic factors affecting the transformation and migration of hydrocarbons in soils have been analyzed. The indicative value of these compounds has been explained. At the same time, many problems related to hydrocarbons in soils are still insufficiently understood. Sparse and fragmentary data are available in the literature on the interaction of different hydrocarbon groups in the soil. Few data refer to the features of hydrocarbons in background zonal soils; there are almost no interzonal comparisons. The behavior of hydrocarbons in soils of different landscape-geographical positions is characterized in isolated publications. The hydrocarbon status of soils as an integral complex of interrelated hydrocarbons is almost not analyzed. Hydrocarbons of a single class (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, hydrocarbon gases, n -alkanes, etc.) are usually characterized in each publication.