Organic pollutants in urban soils of Glasgow, UK

Concentrations of total organic carbon (TOC), total petroleum hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were determined in 84 near-surface soils (5-20 cm depth) taken from a 255 km2 area of Glasgow in the Clyde Basin, UK, during July 2011. Total petroleum hydrocarbon ranged from 79-2,505 mg kg-1 (mean 388 mg kg-1; median 272 mg kg-1) of which the aromatic fraction was 13-74 % (mean 44 %, median 43 %) and saturates were 28-87 % (mean 56 %, median 57 %). Σ16 PAH varied from 2-653 mg kg-1 (mean 32.4 mg kg-1; median 12.5mg kg-1) and Σ31 PAH range was 2.47-852 mg kg-1 (mean 45.4 mg kg-1; median 19.0 mg kg-1). PCB tri-hepta range was 2.2-1052 mg kg-1 (mean 32.4 mg kg-1; median 12.7 mg kg-1) and the ΣPCB7 was 0.3-344 mg kg-1 (mean 9.8 mg kg-1; median 2.7 mg kg-1). This data is associated with the published research paper: Kim, A., Vane, C., Moss-Hayes, V., Beriro, D., Nathanail, C., Fordyce, F., & Everett, P. (2017). Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in urban soils of Glasgow, UK. Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh, 108(2-3), 231-247. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755691018000324