Sampling Elizabeth River

Sediment samples were collected using a grab sampler (which samples approximately the top 10 cm) aboard Old Dominion University s research vessels, ODU-1 and Linwood Hoi Con. The sample locations are shown In Figure 1. The samples were stored frozen In clean, solvent-washed jars until analyzed. Creosoted wood samples were collected from areas adjacent to the Elizabeth River (Figure 1). Three samples of refined creosote and one sample of coal tar were also analyzed. Creosote samples from Atlantic Wood Industries, the remaining operative creosotlng facility on the Elizabeth River, were not available. The woodstove soot sample was obtained from a domestic woodstove in which predominantly hardwoods were burned. 

Figure 1. Sampling locations for creosoted wood (C) and sediments (S) and the location of the wood preserving facilities on the Elizabeth River, Norfolk, VA.

The three-dimensional fluorescence spectra of a creosote sample, a sediment sample from the vicinity of the creosote facilities (S5), a sediment sample from the entrance to the Elizabeth River (S8), and No. 2 Fuel Oil are shown in Figure 5. 

Carbonized coal products have a unique fingerprint by both GC and fluorescence analyses. Both these fingerprints confirm that sediments from the Elizabeth River are contaminated with carbonized coal products and allow for the detection of carbonized coal hydrocarbons, even in the presence of petroleum-derived hydrocarbons. Fluorescence allows for the rapid analysis of more samples and shows the contamination within the Elizabeth River to be widespread. Carbonized coal products in the sediments may constitute a chronic long-term source of PNA s to the water column. 

Fig. 13. Relationship between the level of fluorescent aromatic compounds (FACs) in the bile of oyster toadfish (Opsanus tau) and concentration of total PAHs in sediments. Values are mean and standard error of the mean. Samples are from the Elizabeth River, Virginia, U.S.A. (Redrawn from Collier et al. 1993.)...

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