Biogenic and anthropogenic organic components of Saharan sands

Till now, the Sahara desert sands have scarcely characterized for their organic contents, despite they are known to heavily affect Europe and America when transported by winds. In this study, the composition of sands collected in ten oasis lying in two regions of the Algerian Sahara during 2011 was investigated with regards to organic fraction. Attention was paid to anthropogenic and biogenic sources of organics associated to sands, through the characterization of n-alkanes, n-alkanoic and n-alkanedioic acids, n-alkanols, sterols, PAHs and caffeine. The organic fraction load on sands associable to natural sources was higher in the Region of Biskra than in that of Ouargla. The biogenic contribution to the total amount of organics in sands exceeded that of the anthropogenic sources. The composition of sands from Hassi Messaoud, compared to that observed there in 2006, showed that the anthropic impact over the region was not changed. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.