Concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)in soils and pine needles collected from typical areas of Xinjiang (Shihezi

Beitun and Kanas)were measured to investigate their distribution between the two environmental media. The concentrations of PAHs in soils and pine needles samples from the three regions were lower than that from other typical regions. The proportion of low molecular weight PAHs was higher and that of high molecular weight species was lower for Shihezi’s sample than that for Kanas’s one. The ring distribution of PAHs in samples from the three regions was a result of “local atmospheric distillation”.Significant log/log-linear relationship was observed between the sub-cooled liquid vapor pressure and the soil/needle quotient

which was similar to one between the gas/solid partition coefficient and the sub-cooled liquid vapor pressure of atmospheric PAHs. These results indicated that the soil/needle quotient can be considered as a “mirror image” of the gas/solid partition coefficient.