Mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls in suspended particulate matter from the European Arctic seas

The concentration of mercury and PCB was determined in the particulate matter from the Greenland sea, Barents sea and the Arctic basin between June and October 1991. A linear relationship was found between suspended particulate matter and particulate organic carbon (POC) concentrations and between P...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology 1995-12, Vol.55 (6), p.893-900
Main Authors: JOIRIS, C. R, LAROUSSI MOATEMRI, N, HOLSBEEK, L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis methods
Applied sciences
Arctic Regions
Aroclors - analysis
Aroclors - metabolism
Atmospheric pollution
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
Europe
Exact sciences and technology
Marine
Mercury - analysis
Mercury - metabolism
Pollution
Polychlorinated Biphenyls - analysis
Polychlorinated Biphenyls - metabolism
Reference Standards
Regression Analysis
Reproducibility of Results
Seawater
Spectrophotometry, Atomic
Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis
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Summary:The concentration of mercury and PCB was determined in the particulate matter from the Greenland sea, Barents sea and the Arctic basin between June and October 1991. A linear relationship was found between suspended particulate matter and particulate organic carbon (POC) concentrations and between POC and chlorophyll-a. A negative correlation was observed between mercury concentration and concentration of POC. Mercury in suspended particulate matter was principally inorganic, methylmercury representing less than 2 per cent. There was a positive relationship between PCB levels and lipid contents of suspended particulate matter. A comparison of the concentration of stable residues in suspended particulate matter between different regions and water masses showed that the accumulation of mercury and PCB in particulate matter was principally by adsorption. After normalization for the amount of particulate matter present in the different water masses, the Arctic zones showed clearly lower concentrations of mercury and PCB than the Atlantic water, North sea and Antarctic.
ISSN:0007-4861
1432-0800
DOI:10.1007/BF00209470