Short Communication Oil pollution in soils and sediments from the Northern Peruvian Amazon Antoni Rosell-Melé a,b, ⁎, Núria Moraleda-Cibrián a , Mar Cartró-Sabaté a , Ferran Colomer-Ventura a , Pedro Mayor c,d,e , Martí Orta-Martínez a,f,g, ⁎ a Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain b ICREA, 08010 Barcelona, Spain c Dept. Sanitat i Anatomia Animals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain d FUNDAMAZONIA, Iquitos, Loreto, Peru e Programa de Pós-Graduação em Saúde e Produção Animal na Amazônia, Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia, Belém, CEP 66077-901, Brazil f International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Hague, The Netherlands g Instituto de Geografía, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador HIGHLIGHTS • Occurrence of petrogenic hydrocarbon pollution in soils and sediments from NW Amazon • Pollution is identified from the presence of steranes and hopanes. • Petrogenic hydrocarbons in hunting or fishing areas of local indigenous inhabi- tants • Source of hydrocarbons are the local oil extraction activities. • Wildlife and local human populations are exposed to oil via the ingestion of soil. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT abstract article info Article history: Received 29 May 2017 Received in revised form 23 July 2017 Accepted 23 July 2017 Available online xxxx Editor: Kevin V. Thomas Oil has been extracted from the Northern Peruvian Amazon for over four decades. However, few scientific studies have assessed the impacts of such activities in the environment and health of indigenous communities in the re- gion. We have investigated the occurrence of petrogenic hydrocarbon pollution in soils and sediments from areas favoured as hunting or fishing grounds by local indigenous inhabitants. The study was conducted in one of the most productive oil blocks in Peru, located in the headwaters of the Amazon river. Soils and river sediments, in the vicinity of oil extraction and processing infrastructure, contained an oil pollution signature as attested by the occurrence of hopanes and steranes. Given the lack of any other significant source of oil pollution in the re- gion, the sources of hydrocarbons are likely to be the activities of the oil industry in the oil block, from voluntary discharges or accidental spills. Spillage of produced water was commonplace until 2009. Moreover, petrogenic compounds were absent in control samples in sites far removed from any oil infrastructure in the oil block. Our findings suggest that wildlife and indigenous populations in this region of the Amazon are exposed to the in- gestion of oil polluted soils and sediments. The data obtained supports previous claims that the local spillage of oil and produced waters in the water courses in the Corrientes and Pastaza basins could have eventually reached the main water course of the Amazon. © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Oil pollution Amazon Soils Sediments Steranes Hopanes Science of the Total Environment 610–611 (2018) 1010–1019 ⁎ Corresponding authors at: Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain. E-mail addresses: antoni.rosell@uab.cat (A. Rosell-Melé), marti.orta@uab.cat (M. Orta-Martínez). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Science of the Total Environment journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv