Soil total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) and Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) pollution in oiled fields is a worldwide environmental problem. Accumulation of TPHs and PAHs in the soils was led by the crude oil exploitation. It caused the spatial ecological risk and human health risk. 

Prof. GUO Shuhai and associate Prof. WU Bo from the Institute of Applied Ecology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences proposed a novel approach for simulating the spatial pollution and assessed the ecological risk according to multiple receptors and risk sources. In addition, the researchers used a source apportionment method to assess human health risk caused by both natural and anthropogenic sources. 

In this study, the researchers found that exploitation time was the major influencing factor of risk. With the continuous exploitation of crude oil, the ecological risk and human health risk are increasing. However, the risks associated with soil contamination could be effectively controlled by implementing control policies. 

The study entitled "Spatial ecological risk assessment for contaminated soil in oiled fields" has been published in Journal of Hazardous Materials and entitled "Assessment of the human health risk of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soils from areas of crude oil exploitation" has been published in Environmental Research.

It was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China.