Organophosphorus flame retardants (PFRs) are a group of emerging contaminants which have been detected in worldwide waters. However, source of various PFRs in the large-scale area like coastal water environment have not been clearly revealed. In this study, fifteen PFRs in coast of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay area (GBA), China were investigated, and a method of spatial pattern analysis was firstly used for pollution source identification. Seawater samples from different segments of GBA coast were analyzed and thirteen PFRs were quantified with total concentrations ranging from 32.7 to 1032.7 ng L⁻¹. GBA coasts have been seriously polluted by PFRs. A hierarchical cluster analysis of the PFR concentrations in different GBA sites showed significant spatial distributions for different types of PFRs. A series of correlation analysis between PFRs distributions and spatial pattern of GBA socio-economic indicators were performed, and multiple sources including human settlement, wastewater, manufacture, construction industry, vehicles, and shipping transport were found to be correlated to PFRs pollutions in the coasts. This study indicates that spatial pattern analysis based on statistical analysis would be a promising method of analyzing environmental data and exploring pollution source in large-scale area.

有机磷阻燃剂（PFR）是在世界范围内的水域中检测到的一组新兴污染物。但是，尚未明确揭示诸如沿海水环境之类的大范围内各种PFRs的来源。本研究调查了粤港澳大湾区（GBA）海岸的十五个PFR，并首次将空间模式分析方法用于污染源识别。分析了来自GBA海岸不同部分的海水样品，并定量了13种PFR，总浓度范围为32.7至1032.7 ng L ^-1。GBA海岸已被PFR严重污染。对不同GBA站点中PFR浓度的分层聚类分析显示，对于不同类型的PFR，其显着的空间分布。进行了PFRs分布与GBA社会经济指标空间格局之间的一系列相关分析，发现包括人类住区，废水，制造业，建筑业，车辆和航运在内的多种来源与沿海地区的PFRs污染相关。 。这项研究表明，基于统计分析的空间格局分析将是分析环境数据和探索大面积污染源的有前途的方法。