Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and putative PAH-degrading bacteria in Galveston Bay, TX (USA), following Hurric
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and putative PAH-degrading bacteria in Galveston Bay, TX (USA), following Hurricane Harvey (2017) Hernando P. Bacosa 1,2 & Jamie Steichen 1 & Manoj Kamalanathan 1 & Rachel Windham 1 & Arnold Lubguban 3 & Jessica M. Labonté 1 & Karl Kaiser 2,4 & David Hala 1 & Peter H. Santschi 2,4 & Antonietta Quigg 1,4 Received: 28 October 2019 / Accepted: 15 June 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Hurricane Harvey was the wettest hurricane in US history bringing record rainfall and widespread flooding in Houston, TX. The resulting storm- and floodwaters largely emptied into the Galveston Bay. Surface water was collected from 10 stations during five cruises to investigate the concentrations and sources of 16 priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and relative abundances of PAH-degrading bacteria. Highest PAH levels (102–167 ng/L) were detected during the first sampling event, decreasing to 36–69 ng/L within a week. Four sites had elevated concentrations of carcinogenic benzo[a]pyrene that exceeded the Texas Standard for Surface Water threshold. The highest relative abundances of known PAH-degrading bacteria Burkholderiaceae, Comamonadaceae, and Sphingomonadales were detected during the first and second sampling events. PAH origins were about 60% pyrogenic, 2% petrogenic, and the remainder of mixed sources. This study improves our understanding on the fate, source, and distributions of PAHs in Galveston Bay after an extreme flooding event. Keywords Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) . Galveston Bay . Hurricane . Harvey . Flooding . Bacteria . Burkholderiales . Sphingomonadales
Introduction Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of organic compounds found in petroleum and produced from the incomplete combustion of organic matter, fossil fuels, and biomass materials (Manoli and Samara 1999; Hwang and Foster 2006; Abdel-Shafy and Mansour 2016). They are of Responsible Editor: Vedula VSS Sarma * Hernando P. Bacosa [email protected] 1
Department of Marine Biology, Texas A&M University at Galveston, Galveston, TX 77553, USA
2
Department of Marine and Coastal Environmental Science, Texas A&M University at Galveston, Galveston, TX 77553, USA
3
Department of Chemical Engineering & Technology, Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, 9200 Iligan City, Lanao del Norte, Philippines
4
Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
major environmental concern as some PAHs and their metabolic products are toxic, mutagenic, and/or carcinogenic (Adhikari et al. 2015; Samanta et al. 2002; Bacosa et al. 2010; Bacosa and Inoue 2015). Although PAHs constitute around 20% of the total hydrocarbons in oil, they are responsible for the majority of its toxicity (NRC 1985). Moreover, metabolites of high molecular weight PAHs were reported to be mutagenic and carcinogenic in fish, mammals, and humans (Park et al. 2001). US EPA has identified 16 unsubstituted PAHs as priori
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