Layer-specific mechanisms of perfluoroalkyl acid (PFAA) transport and partition in estuarine environments: Unveiling the depth-dependent differences
Abstract
Understanding of characteristics and transport of perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) in heterogeneous estuarine environments is limited. Furthermore, the role of suspended particles (SPS) in different layers remains unclear. This study explores the multiphase distribution process and mechanism of PFAAs controlled by SPS across surface and bottom layers in five small estuaries. Peaks in PFAA concentrations are consistently observed at strongly stratified sites. Concentrations of the PFAAs in both surface and bottom SPS decreased as the degree of mixing increased from strongly stratified levels to well-mixed levels. The water-SPS partitioning of some short-chain PFAAs (PFBS, PFHxA, and PFHpA) is influenced by environmental factors (pH, depth, temperature, and salinity) due to electrostatic interactions, while the sorption of some long-chain PFAAs (PFOA, PFOS, and PFNA) is controlled by SPS and dissolved organic carbon (OC), driven by hydrophobic interactions. Additionally, SPS dominates OC transport in estuarine systems, except in sandy sediment environments. SPS plays a dominant role in PFAA partitioning in both surface and bottom water-SPS systems (p < 0.05), and salinity only significantly affects PFBS in bottom layer (p < 0.01). These findings are critical for understanding the drivers of PFAA partitioning and the roles of SPS in different layers, underscoring the necessity of considering particle-associated PFAA fractions in future coastal environmental management.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Site-specific estuarine hydrodynamics likely influence PFAS occurrence through tidal mixing, salinity gradients, and suspended particulate matter interactions.
“In the downstream tidal sites, site-specific estuarine hydrodynamics likely influence PFAS occurrence through tidal mixing, salinity gradients, and suspended particulate matter interactions.15,54,55”
From Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Surface Water and Fluvial Sediments of a Rural Gulf Coast Watershed: A Year-long Spatiotemporal Assessment (2026) · cites this paper as [54]
Tidal exchange can reduce dissolved PFAS concentrations through seawater intrusion during flood tide conditions and salinity-driven sorption processes.
“Tidal exchange can reduce dissolved PFAS concentrations through seawater intrusion during flood tide conditions and salinity-driven sorption processes.54,56”
From Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Surface Water and Fluvial Sediments of a Rural Gulf Coast Watershed: A Year-long Spatiotemporal Assessment (2026) · cites this paper as [54]
Cites
Ahrens, L., Taniyasu, S., Yeung, L. W. Y., Yamashita, N., Lam, P. K. S., & Ebinghaus, R. (2010) · Chemosphere · doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2010.01.045 · Cited by 418 · see citing works
Zhao, P., Xia, X., Dong, J., Xia, N., Jiang, X., Li, Y., & Zhu, Y. (2016) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.05.221 · Cited by 322 · see citing works
Self-citationZushi, Y., Takeda, T., & Masunaga, S. (2008) · Chemosphere · doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2007.11.055 · Cited by 123 · see citing works
Borthakur, A., Wang, M., He, M., Ascencio, K., Blotevogel, J., Adamson, D. T., Mahendra, S., & Mohanty, S. K. (2021) · Journal of Hazardous Materials · doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.126159 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
Organic carbon and salinity affect desorption of PFAS from estuarine sediments
Navarro, D. A., Oliver, D. P., Simpson, S. L., & Kookana, R. S. (2022) · Journal of Soils and Sediments · doi:10.1007/s11368-022-03172-5 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Anik, A. H., Basir, M. S., Sultan, M. B., Alam, M., Rahman, M. M., & Tareq, S. M. (2025) · Marine Pollution Bulletin · doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2025.117554 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Yu, L. H., Liu, X., Hua, Z., Xing, X., & Xue, H. (2025) · Water Research · doi:10.1016/j.watres.2025.123628 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Singh, N., Paz-Ferreiro, J., Askeland, M. P. J., Coggan, T. L., & Jones, O. A. H. (2025) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.179196 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Research on the PFAS release and migration behavior of multi-layer outdoor jacket fabrics.
Zhao, X., Zhang, S., Hu, Z., Ren, Z.-H., Wang, T., Zhu, B., An, L., Wang, H.-B., & Liu, J. (2025) · Journal of Hazardous Materials · doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2025.137218 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Self-citationLi, C., Xue, X.-Y., Zhang, S., Wu, P., Wang, X., Long, S., Gu, E., Wang, C., Yang, G. H., He, W., et al. (2025) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/acs.est.5c01346 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Ehsan, M. N., Pervez, M. N., Alam, S. M. M., Liang, Y., & Naddeo, V. (2025) · Journal of Environmental Quality · doi:10.1002/jeq2.70047 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Xu, Z., Dang, G., Zhang, S., Ma, K., Bi, H., Huang, X., Zhu, B., An, L., Wang, H., & Liu, J. (2025) · Colloids and Surfaces A Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects · doi:10.1016/j.colsurfa.2025.137524 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Self-citationZhao, X., Bi, H.-D., Zhang, S., Wang, T., An, L., Zhu, B., Wang, H.-B., & Liu, J.-L. (2026) · Journal of Colloid and Interface Science · doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2026.140139 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Self-citationTian, M., Liao, R., Dou, W.-K., Zhang, J., Dong, F., Pan, Y.-T., & Tang, J.-H. (2026) · Environmental Pollution · doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2026.127931 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
How do hydrodynamic conditions and land use drive antibiotic fate in estuarine and bay ecosystems?
Cui, Y., Shang, M.-Q., Xie, H., & Dong, J.-W. (2025) · Journal of Environmental Science · doi:10.1016/j.jes.2025.03.050 · Cited by 3
Self-citationCao, S., & Wang, P. (2026) · Toxics · doi:10.3390/toxics14050406 · Cited by 2
“Aging sewer networks leak untreated sewage into storm drains during extreme rainfall events, releasing antibiotic-resistant genes that mingle with agricultural antibiotics to create hotspots of multidrug resistance [4,19].”
Groffen, T., Suello, R. H., Meulemeester, L. D., Belliard, J., Domínguez‐Granda, L., Bervoets, L., & Temmerman, S. (2026) · Marine Pollution Bulletin · doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2026.119372 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Zhang, D., Zhao, Y., Sun, Y., Zhang, X., Yang, Z., Guo, X., Liu, L., Ju, F., & Zhang, Y. (2026) · npj Emerging Contaminants · doi:10.1038/s44454-026-00037-1 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Rodriguez, C. A., Schramm, M., Postma, S., McDonald, T. J., Brinkmeyer-Langford, C., & Ma, X. (2026) · ACS ES&T Water · doi:10.1021/acsestwater.6c00886
Wang, H., Huang, C., Wang, Z., Zhang, D., Yan, L., Fu, G., & Dong, J. (2026) · Emerging contaminants · doi:10.1016/j.emcon.2026.100764
Self-citationYan, D., Dong, J., Qiao, R.-X., Zhang, X., Chen, Q.-W., Feng, T., & Yan, X.-C. (2026) · Water Research · doi:10.1016/j.watres.2026.126049
Self-citation
- Authors
- Dong, J., Feng, R., Yao, Z., Wang, J., Wang, Y., Wang, H., Yan, D., Cui, Y., Xie, H., Du, Y., & Xia, X.
- Affiliations
- Nanjing Normal University (CN)
- State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering (CN)
- Yangzhou University (CN)
- China Geological Survey (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Beijing Normal University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Yan, Dandan
- Xie, Hui
- Venue
- Journal of Hazardous Materials
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2024-07
- Volume
- 473
- Pages
- 134675
- ISSN
- 0304-3894 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4398201065
- Cited by
- 15
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 8
- FWCI
- 1.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Hazardous Materials (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances research
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Toxic Organic Pollutants Impact
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Chemical Analysis and Environmental Impact
- Keywords
- perfluoroalkyl acids, estuaries, suspended particulate matter, depth stratification, dissolved organic carbon, PFBS, perfluorohexanoic acid, PFHpA, PFOS, perfluorooctanoic acid, PFNA, electrostatic interactions, hydrophobic interactions, salinity effects, estuarine mixing
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
