Environmental Forensics Investigation in Sediments near a Former Manufactured Gas Plant Site

An investigation of lakebed sediment found elevated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) levels, and a nearby former manufactured gas plant (MGP) site was identified as the most likely source. Forensic chemistry or “chemical fingerprinting” was conducted on sediment samples from a boat slip in the vicinity of the MGP and on-shore soil samples from the MGP property in order to determine whether or not the former MGP was the origin of the PAHs found in the sediment. An analysis of the data from gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC/FID) and mass spectrometry (GC/MS) suggested that the PAH distributions measured in the sediment samples were similar to those measured in samples of tarry soil from the former MGP site. However, because of the urban and industrial land use surrounding the former MGP site, it was also possible that there was a PAH contribution to the sediments from urban runoff or other industrial and municipal discharges. The compound-specific isotope ratios (CSIRs) of carbon i...