The concentrations

composition patterns and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are quantified and explored in twenty-eight surface soil samples collected from typical industrial sites and traffic sites in Guangzhou. The results show that there is a high variability in the total PAHs concentrations in soil samples

ranging from not detected to 5543.5μg/kg dry weight. The most frequent detected PAH compounds in soil samples are fluorene

fluoranthene

chrysene and benzo[b]fluoranthene with detection ratios of above 70%. The part of soils from an abandoned fertilizer plant production area and an abandoned airfield are contaminated by PAHs with obvious higher levels of PAHs than those in soils from nearby industrial areas or highway. PAHs composition patterns in soils of all sampling areas are characterized mainly by compounds with four-ring and more than four-ring. According to the composition characteristics of PAHs and fluoranthene/pyrene (Fla/Pyr) ratio

one of the dominant PAHs sources in study areas is preliminarily inferred to be pyrolysis.