Cenotes are naturally occurring flooded caves that are frequent in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula; they result from the collapse of limestone bedrock into the regional groundwater table. Cenotes in Quintana Roo are important ecological and economic hot spots but are susceptible to anthropogenic pollution. In this study, we collected water samples from 11 cenotes over multiple years to evaluate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations and patterns as associated with tourist traffic. The primary PAHs detected in samples included fluoranthene, anthracene, phenanthrene and naphthalene, with total PAH concentrations increasing almost fivefold for cenotes sampled from 2016 to 2017. This is compared to only a 7% increase in tourist traffic during these years. Multivariate statistical analysis of the PAH concentration data suggests that diesel, gasoline and asphalt are the most likely pollution sources and that they are associated with periods of increased tourist traffic.

Cenotes是自然产生的洪水洞穴，在墨西哥的尤卡坦半岛很常见。它们是由于石灰岩基岩坍塌进入区域地下水位而产生的。金塔纳罗奥州的Cenotes是重要的生态和经济热点，但容易受到人为污染的影响。在这项研究中，我们收集了来自11个cenotes多年的水样，以评估与游客流量相关的多环芳烃（PAH）浓度和模式。样品中检测到的主要PAH包括荧蒽，蒽，菲和萘，2016年至2017年采样的大便香精的总PAH浓度增加了近五倍。相比之下，这几年游客流量仅增加了7％。PAH浓度数据的多变量统计分析表明，柴油，