ABSTRACT
Petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) concentration was monitored in water of estuaries, ports, and coastal transects up to 10-km distance in East Coast of India once in every year during 2002-2009. The highest concentration was observed at Haldia port (1.60-20.11 µg/l) due to the impact of hydrocarbon discharges from nearby oil refinery, petrochemical industries, handling of crude oils, etc. The concentration of PHC exhibited relatively higher values during low tide than the high tide in all the four estuaries indicating riverine inputs and land-based discharges, which contribute substantial amounts of PHC to the coastal water. Hoogly estuary recorded higher values of PHC (1.17-18.50 µg/l) due to the influence of industrial wastes, land runoff, and port activities. The spatial distribution of PHC estimated by the kriging method showed a variation in concentration of PHC over the whole region. To discriminate the dispersion pattern of PHC, principal component analysis (PCA) was performed using a correlation matrix.
