Sediments, PAHs

NY/NJ Waterway Sediment PAHs (24) PCBs (35) PAHs (32) PCDDs/PCDFs (17)... 

Sediments and biota collected from the Hersey River, Michigan, in 1978, were heavily contaminated with phenanthrene, benz[a]anthracene, and benzo[a]pyrene when compared to a control site. Elevated PAH concentrations were recorded in sediments, whole insect larvae, crayfish muscle, and flesh of lampreys (family Petromyzontidae), brown trout (Salmo trutta), and white suckers (Catostomus commersoni), in that general order (Black et al. 1981). The polluted collection locale was the former site of a creosote wood preservation facility between 1902 and 1949, and, at the time of the study, received Reed City wastewater treatment plant effluent, described as an oily material with a naphthalene-like odor (Black et al. 1981). In San Francisco Bay, elevated PAH concentrations in fish livers reflected elevated sediment PAH concentrations (Stehr et al. 1997). In Chesapeake Bay, spot (Leiostomus xanthurus) collected from a PAH-contaminated tributary (up to 96 mg PAHs/kg DW sediment) had elevated cytochrome P-450 and EROD activity in liver and intestine microsomes (Van Veld et al. 1990). Intestinal P-450 activity was 80 to 100 times higher in fish from highly contaminated sites than in conspecifics from reference sites intestinal EROD activity had a similar trend. Liver P-450 and EROD activity was about 8 times higher in spot from the contaminated sites when compared to the reference sites. Liver P-450 activity correlated positively with sediment PAH, but intestinal P-450 activity seemed to reflect dietary exposure (Van Veld et al. 1990). The poor correlation between hepatic concentrations of PAHs and P-4501A is attributed to the rapid metabolism of these compounds (van der Weiden et al. 1994). 

Li, A., Jang, K., Scheff, P., 2003. Application of EPA CMB8.2 model source apportionment of Sediment PAHs in Lake Calumet, Chicago. Environ. Sci. Technol. 37(13), 2598-2965. 

CRM535 Freshwater harbour sediment - PAHs Certified values for 7 PAHs... 

HS-5 HS-6 sediment - PAHs collected from a harbour in Nova Scotia, Canada... 

Figure 32.24. Regression comparison of coal tar PAH analyses with Minnesota SUp/Erie Pier sediment PAH analyses.

Environmental Fate of Hydrocarbons, A few studies have shed light on the fate of hydrocarbons in the marine environment. In coastal marine sediments, PAHs accumulate from urban sources and are converted to intermediate products and CO2 by metabolism, photooxidation, and other processes. In their Controlled Ecosystem Pollution Experiment (CEPEX), Lee et al. (1978) concluded that hydrocarbons were deposited in the sediment by falling particles, although they did not specifically study the direct uptake of waterborne PAH by sediment. Their results show that in the first few days of a one-time addition of oil that the sediment concentration of naphthalenes was high and then steadily decreased to below detection by day 17, whereas anthracene, fluoranthene, benz[a]anthracene, and benzo-[a]pyrene concentrations in the sediment steadily increased over the 17 d of the experiment. It was also proposed by Lee et al. (1978) that hydrocarbons from an oil slick that are smaller than 15 carbons volatilize quickly and only to a limited degree for those with 15-25 carbons. They concluded that most LPAHs were removed primarily by microbial degradation and that HPAHs were removed by photooxidation and sedimentation. Another study has shown that when oil is added to the water column, total hydrocarbons rapidly decrease in the water but aromatic hydrocarbons increase in the sediment (Gordon et al. 1976). 

Development and Application of Equilibrium Partitioning Sediment Guidelines in the Assessment of Sediment PAH Contamination... 

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