Paper Title
Assessment of PAHS and the N-PAH Analogues in River Sediment Cores From Niger Delta

Abstract
Chemical surveys of sediment core samples are major sources of historical pollution trends in aquatic environment. Vertical profiles of PAHs and N-PAHs for the 2 cm, from sediment cores samples (0�10 cm) obtained from Bonny Estuary, in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, were assessed. The PAHs and N-PAHsfound in the core samples appeared to be from both petrogenic and pyrogenic sources.Petrogenic-PAHs/N-PAHs resulting from oil spills were predominated by 2-, 3-ring and alkylated-substituents, while pyrogenic-PAHs/N-PAHs from industrial activities were dominated by 4-, 5-, 6-rings. Further, ƩPAHs ranged from 66943.95 �g/kg - 84623.81 �g/kg, while ƩN-PAHs ranged from 2841.53 �g/kg - 7156.49 �g/kg. Surface sediment contamination was dominated by petrogenic-PAHs/N-PAHs, while deeper sediments were heavily contaminated with pyrogenic-PAHs/N-PAHs. Assessment with the sediment quality guidelines (SQGs) suggeststhat the core segments are �heavily contaminated� and �toxic�. Surveys, such as this, may be helpful in the future sediment-management-decisions for contaminated systems and long-term-monitoring of surface sediments to assess recovery. Keywords- PAHs, N-PAHs, petrogenic, pyrogenic, sediment.