Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology Advances in Environmental Technology 2476-6674 9 2 2023 04 01 Concentration, composition, and genesis of hydrocarbons in bottom sediments of the Chernaya River estuarine zone (Sevastopol, the Black Sea) 138 152 1292 10.22104/aet.2023.5673.1549 EN Olga Soloveva A. O. Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas, Russian Academy of Sciences, Sevastopol, Russia 0000-0002-1283-4593 Oleg Mironov A. O. Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas, Russian Academy of Sciences, Sevastopol, Russia 0000-0003-2083-3221 Elena Tikhonova A. O. Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas, Russian Academy of Sciences, Sevastopol, Russia 0000-0002-9137-087X Journal Article 2022 07 01 The “river-sea” geochemical barrier is studied slightly in terms of the variety of pollutants, sedimentation, and degradation. At the same time, problems related to oil pollution, in particular the genesis of hydrocarbons, are almost never covered. This study was dedicated to the origin, concentration, and composition of hydrocarbons in the bottom sediments of the Chernaya River (Black Sea, Crimea) estuarine zone. The features of the marginal filter zone of the river were considered. N-alkanes in the range of C₁₁-C₃₆ were identified in the bottom sediments of the studied water area. It was noted that there was persistent oil pollution (degraded hydrocarbons) in the water area of Sevastopol Bay, adjacent to the confluence of the river. The accumulation of terrestrial material increased as it moved from the river to the sea. The application of various molecular markers displayed the predominately allochthonous origin of the hydrocarbons in the bottom sediments. As a result of the study of molecular markers by using principal component analysis (PCA) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) analysis, three leading factors responsible for hydrocarbon input to the bottom sediments water area were identified. The first one (36.53 % of the total variation) was associated with n-alkanes of natural and anthropogenic input. The second factor (19.52 % variation) was associated with allochthonous organic matter, including petroleum and bacterial destruction. The third factor (10.74 %) was associated with mainly allochthonous routes of organic substances entering the bottom sediments of the water area. https://aet.irost.ir/article_1292_459a4ddcb586f24efd9395aa7662bc7c.pdf