US EPA

3486707 

Journal Article 

Characterization and fingerprinting of soil and groundwater contamination sources around a fuel distribution station in Galicia (NW Spain) 

Balseiro-Romero, M; Macías, F; Monterroso, C 

2016 

Yes 

Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
ISSN: 0167-6369
EISSN: 1573-2959 

188 

5 

292 

English 

27080856 

10.1007/s10661-016-5288-1 

WOS:000376017400033 

Soil and groundwater contamination around a fuel distribution station in Tomiño (NW Spain) was evaluated. For this purpose, top and subsoil (up to 6.4 m) and groundwater were sampled around the station, approximately in a 60-m radius. Samples were analysed by HS-SPME-GC-MS to identify and quantify volatile fuel organic compounds (VFOC) (MTBE, ETBE and BTEX) and diesel range organics (DRO). Analysis and fingerprinting data suggested that the contamination of soil and groundwater was provoked by a fuel leak from underground storage tanks. This was reflected by hydrocarbon indices and principal component analysis, which discriminated a direct source of contamination of the subsoil samples around the station. The contaminants probably migrated from tank nearby soils to surrounding soils and leached to groundwater, following a SW direction. Irrigation with contaminated groundwater provoked a severe contamination of topsoils, which were enriched with the lightest components of gasoline and diesel. Fingerprinting also revealed the continuity of the leak, reflected by the presence of volatiles in some samples, which principally appeared in fresh leaks. MTBE was detected in a very high concentration in groundwater samples (up to 690 μg L(-1)), but it was not detected in fresh gasoline. This also evidenced an old source of contamination, probably starting in the mid-1990s, when the use of MTBE in gasoline was regulated.