Applying synchrotron radiation-based attenuated total reflection-fourier transform infrared to chemically characterise organic functional groups in terrestrial soils of King George Island, Antarctica.

Anthropogenic activities, especially associated with fossil fuel combustion, are raising concerns worldwide, but remote areas with extreme climate conditions, such as Antarctica, are isolated from the adverse influence of human civilisation. Antarctica is considered as the most untouched place on Earth. Such pristine areas, which have extremely low chemical pollutant concentrations owing to restricted anthropogenic impacts, exemplify plausible model environments to test the reliability and sensitivity of advanced analytical techniques employed to chemically characterise and evaluate the spatial distribution of chemical pollutants.

Data relating to spatial distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in terrestrial soils of Pakistan and King George Island, Antarctica.

Over the past few decades, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been analysed in various environmental compartments, however, only limited information is available associated with their terrestrial concentrations in Pakistan and Antarctica. All terrestrial soils from Pakistan (n = 120) were collected from 14th to 2nd April 2017 at Islamabad ( = 30), Abbotabad ( = 10), Taxilla ( = 5), and other places from north to south ( = 75). All Antarctic terrestrial soils ( = 11) were collected from 1st to 25th February 2018 in the southwestern part of King George Island.