Particle deposition fluxes of BDE-209, PAHs, DDTs and chlordane in the Pearl River Delta, South China Original Research Article

Year-round bulk air deposition samples were collected at 15 sites in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) on a bimonthly basis from Dec 2003 to Nov 2004, and the particle-phase deposition of BDE-209, PAHs, DDTs and chlordane was measured. The annual deposition fluxes of BDE-209, total PAHs (15 compounds), total DDT (sum of p,p′-DDE, p,p′-DDD, p,p′-DDT, and o,p′-DDT ), and chlordane (sum of trans-chlordane and cis-chlordane) varied from 32.6 to 1970 μg m− 2 yr− 1, 22 to 290 μg m− 2 yr− 1, 0.8 to 11 μg m− 2 yr− 1, and 0.25 to 1.9 μg m− 2 yr− 1, respectively. Spatial variations were higher in the centre of the PRD and lower at the coastal sites for all compounds. The seasonal variations of deposition were found to be compound-dependent, influenced by a number of factors, such as the timing of source input, temperature, and precipitation etc. In particular, source input time affected the deposition fluxes of BDE-209 and high-weight PAHs, while temperature-dependent gas–particle partitioning was a key factor for DDT and light-weight PAH deposition. During the whole sampling period, the atmospheric deposition of BDE-209, ΣPAHs, ΣDDTs, and chlordane onto Hong Kong reached about 93, 86, 2.1 and 2.1 kg yr− 1, respectively, and onto the PRD reached about 13,400, 2950, 82, and 63 kg yr− 1. By comparing the calculated total air deposition with the burden in the soils, the half residual time of BDE-209 in soils was estimated to be 3 years.