Perylene in surface sediments from the estuarine-inner shelf of the East China Sea: A potential indicator to assess the sediment footprint of large river influence

•Occurrence and origin of sedimentary perylene in the coastal ECS were studied.•The perylene presence could support a clear link with the terrigenous SOM input.•Deposition flux of perylene is likely as the sediment footprint of river influence.

The large-scale occurrence of perylene in the surface sediment samples from the estuarine-inner shelf of the East China Sea (ECS) were examined, and for the first time by employing the multiproxies of organic geochemistry to explore the possible sources of perylene and its biogeochemical implication in this river-dominated area. The concentrations of perylene in this area ranged from 7.4 to 141.1 ng g−1, displaying an apparent decreased trend in an offshore direction and increased alongshore to the south. In addition to the fluvial input, the hydrodynamic sorted fine sediments and associated organic components could also act on the spatial variability of perylene and its varied relationships with the total organic carbon based proxies and PAHs. Higher proportions of perylene towards the 5-ring PAHs indicated a natural diagenetic input. Together with the reported high perylene abundance outside the sediment compartments, the significant relationships between perylene and the terrigenous organic matter (OM) proxies could suggest a combination of the predepositional fluvial input of perylene and in situ formation from its precursors with land-derived OM origins for its appearance in the coastal ECS. The deposition flux of perylene could be likely served as a geochemical imprint to assess the river input influence on the sedimentary environment of the coastal ECS.