MAE-GC-MS Assessment of Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons in the Bitumen Belt of Ondo State, Southwestern Nigeria

Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are of particular concern because of their mutagenic and carcinogenic effect on diverse ecosystems. The regional PAHs concentration was determined in soil over the bitumen belt of Ondo state, Southwestern Nigeria using MAE-GC-MS technique. The spatial concentrations of PAHs in the study area did not show any appreciable variation in all the soil samples analysed most especially surface soil. The surface soil shows that PAHs are derived principally from pyrogenic origin typically bush burning while subsurface soil PAHs origins were both pyrogenic and petrogenic. Though, the distributions of PAHs in the study area were not of any public concern because their concentrations were lower than quoted contaminated averages, however, the petrogenic origin in some part of study area may arose from surface oozing of bitumen and thus a concern for crop production in the affected areas.