Sampling sediment

Delumyea and McCleary report data for the determination of %w/w organic material in sediment samples collected at different depths from a cove on the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, FL. After collecting the sediment core it was sectioned into a set of 2-cm increments. Each increment was placed in 50 mb of deionized water and the slurry filtered through a piece of preweighed filter paper. The filter paper and sediment increment were then placed in a preweighed evaporating dish and dried in an oven at... 

This somewhat lengthy experiment provides a thorough introduction to the use of GG for the analysis of trace-level environmental pollutants. Sediment samples are extracted by sonicating with 3 X 100-mL portions of 1 1 acetone hexane. The extracts are then filtered and concentrated before bringing to a final volume of 10 mL. Samples are analyzed with a capillary column using a stationary phase of 5% phenylmethyl silicone, a splitless injection, and an EGD detector. 

This proeedure has been applied to thousands soil and sediment samples and hundreds biologieal and water samples taken in the exelusive zone of Chernobyl NPP and different regions of Ukraine. The methods developments ai e deseribed. 

MDGC has been used for separating eommereial formulations of PCBs (11, 12, 22, 23, 26) although it is not widely used on real samples. In some examples, MDGC has been applied to determine PCBs in sediment samples (13, 14, 27) and water-samples (14, 24). 

Figure 13.2 MDGC-ECD chromatograms of PCB fractions from sediment samples, demonstrating the separation of the enantiomers of (a) PCB 95, (b) PCB 132, and (c) PCB 149 non-labelled peaks were not identified. Reprinted from Journal of Chromatography, A 723, A. Glausch et al, Enantioselective analysis of chiral polyclilorinated biphenyls in sediment samples by multidimensional gas cliromatography-electi on-capture detection after steam distillation-solvent exti action and sulfur removal , pp. 399-404, copyright 1996, with permission from Elsevier Science.

Heavy metal concentrations have been determined in 156 sediment samples disseminated in the Gulf of Venice. The presence of metals has been related to a number of factors (26-31) ... 

In this core, concentrations of PCBs (determined as Aroclor 1254 and 1260, by high resolution gas chromatography, electron capture detection and high resolution gas chromatography-low resolution mass spectrometry) were <30 ng and those of total DDT (p,p DDT + p,p DDD + p,p DDE) <5 ng g Campesan et al. (21) in 11 sediment samples from Valle di Brenta, determined by GC-ECD the following mean concentrations (ng gd.w.) ... 

Figure 15-12 is a schematic illustration of a technique known as acid volatile sulfides/ simultaneously extracted metals analysis (AVS/SEM). Briefly, a strong acid is added to a sediment sample to release the sediment-associated sulfides, acid volatile sulfides, which are analyzed by a cold-acid purge-and-trap technique (e.g., Allen et ai, 1993). The assumption shown in Fig. 15-12 is that the sulfides are present in the sediments in the form of either FeS or MeS (a metal sulfide). In a parallel analysis, metals simultaneously released with the sulfides (the simultaneously extracted metals) are also quantified, for example, by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. Metals released during the acid attack are considered to be associated with the phases operationally defined as "exchangeable," "carbonate," "Fe and Mn oxides," "FeS," and "MeS."... 

In random samples of soil taken from five Alabama counties, only 3 of 46 soil samples contained methyl parathion. The concentration in these samples was <0.1 ppm (Albright et al. 1974). Aspartofthe National Soils Monitoring Program, soil and crop samples from 37 states were analyzed for methyl parathion during 1972. Methyl parathion was detected in only 1 soil sample, at a concentration of <0.1 ppm and taken from South Dakota, out of 1,246 total samples taken from the 37 states (Carey et al. 1979). In soil and sediment samples collected from a watershed area in Mississippi, methyl parathion was not detected in the soil samples. In three wetland sediment cores, however, measurable concentrations of methyl parathion were detected during application season (Cooper 1991). 

A uses study analyzed bed sediment samples from major rivers of the United States twice yearly in the period of 1975-1985. Methyl parathion was not detected in any sediment sample (Gilliom et al. 1985). 

Pritchard PH, Gripe CR, Walker WW, et al. 1987. Biotic and abiotic dehydration rates of methyl parathion in freshwater and estuarine water and sediment samples. Chemosphere 16 1509-1520. 

Endosulfan has been identified in 162 soil and 45 sediment samples collected at 131 of the 164 NPL hazardous waste sites where it was detected in some environmental media (HazDat 2000). 

Leung AM, McDonough DM, West CD. 1998. Determination of endosulfans in soil/sediment samples from Point Mugu, Oxnard, CA, using capillary gas chromatography/mass selective detection (CC/MSD). Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 50(l) 85-94. 

A maximum trichloroethylene level of 9.9 ppb was found in sediment from Liverpool Bay, England (Pearson and McConnell 1975). Sediment levels from nondetectable to 0.2 ppb (wet weight) trichloroethylene were found in Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans (Ferrario et al. 1985). An analysis of the EPA STORET Data Base (1980-1982) found that trichloroethylene had been positively detected in sediment samples taken at 6% of 338 observation stations, with median levels of <5 pg/kg (dry weight) (<5 ppb) (Staples et al. 1985). The observation stations included both "ambient" and "pipe" sites. Ambient sites include streams, lakes, and ponds and are intended to be indicative of general U.S. waterway conditions. Pipe sites refer to municipal or industrial influents or effluents. 

Defining I, B Schink (1989b) Two new species of anaerobic oxalate-fermenting bacteria, Oxalobacter vibrioformis sp. nov., and Clostridium oxalicum sp. nov., from sediment samples. Arch Microbiol 153 79-84. 

An anaerobic sediment sample was incubated with 2,3,4,6-tetrachlorobiphenyl at various temperatures between 4 and 66°C (Wu et al. 1997a). The main products were 2,4,6- and... 

Sediment samples from a contaminated site were spiked with Arochlor 1242 and incubated at 4°C for several months (Williams and May 1997). Degradation by aerobic organisms in the upper layers of the sediment—but not in those at >15 mm from the surface—occurred with the selective production of di- and trichlorobiphenyls. Some congeners, including... 

Allard A-S, P-A Hynning, M Remberger, AH Neilson (1994) Bioavailability of chlorocatechols in naturally contaminated sediment samples and of chloroguaiacols covalently bound to Cj-guaiacyl residues. Appl Environ Microbiol 60 777-784. 

Analysis of chlorobenzoates in sediments, which had been contaminated with PCBs, was used to demonstrate that the lower PCB congeners that had initially been produced by anaerobic dechlorination were subsequently degraded under aerobic conditions. The chlorobenzoates were transient metabolites and their concentrations were extremely low since bacteria that could successfully degrade them were present in the sediment samples (Elanagan and May 1993). 

Allard A-S, L Renberg, AH Neilson (1996) Absence of evolution from -labelled EDTA and DTPA and the sediment/water partition ratio using a sediment sample. Chemosphere 33 577-583. 

This is an important parameter particularly for naturally occurring mixed cultures of organisms in the natural environment temperature may result in important changes in the composition of the microbial flora as well as on the rates for different processes. An illustrative example of its importance includes the following. An anaerobic sediment sample was incubated with... 

Sandoli RL, WC Ghiorse, EL Madsen (1996) Regulation of microbial phenanthrene mineralization in sediment samples by sorbent-sorbate contact time, inocula and gamma irradiation-induced sterilization artifacts. Environ Toxicol Chem 15 1901-1907. 

An anaerobic sediment sample was incnbated with 2,3,4,6-tetrachlorobiphenyl at various temperatures between 4 and 66°C (Wn et al. 1997). The main products were 2,4,6- and 2,3,6-trichlorobiphenyl and 2,6-dichlorobiphenyl the first of these was produced maximally and discontinnonsly at 12 and 34°C, the second maximally at 18°C, and the third was dominant from 25 to 30°C. Dechlorination was not observed above 37°C. 

FIGURE 3.6 Measured concentrations of Hg and MeHg in the top 2 cm of sediments through time in 2001, at 4 discrete sediment sampling sites within Lake 658, the study lake of the METAALICUS project. 

Furutani A, Rudd JWM. 1980. Measurement of mercury methylation in lakewater and sediment samples. Appl Environ Microbiol 40 770-776. 

A few studies on grain size of minerals in midoceanic ridge chimneys have been published. Feely et al. (1987) described the grain size of mineral particles in the smoke and sediment samples from southern Juan de Fuca Ridge. They report the following grain sizes sphalerite 0.3-100 p.m in diameter (usually less than 20 p.m) pyrite 0.1-10 p.m Fe-Si, Ca-Si phases 5-150 p.m. Converse et al. (1984) reported the grain size... 

United Nations Environment Programme 1995,1996). Unfortunately, there are only a few biological samples from BCR, IAEA, NIST and NRCC and two sediment samples from BCR and lAEA-MEL certified for MeHg compounds available (Horvat 1999). 

Using a newly developed, transversely heated graphite atomizer and D2-back-ground correction (for details see Sections 2.2 and 4.3), Cd, Pb and Cr were determined in cement and river sediment samples. Of the various calibration approaches applied the best results, also in comparison with wet chemical procedures, were achieved with calibration curves constructed by means of different BCR CRMs with different analyte concentrations and usually n = to individual intakes (Nowka and Muller 1997). 

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