Role of colloidal organic matter in the marine geochemistry of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls). Doctoral thesis

Technical Report · Sun Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1986

OSTI ID:5643766

Brownawell, B J

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were used to study the sorption of hydrophobic organic compounds (HOC) with colloidal organic matter in a coastal environment. A static headspace partitioning method measured the sorption of individual chlorobiphenyls with colloidal organic matter by directly determining the dissolved-phase fugacity of PCBs. Experimental results suggest that HOC-organic colloid sorption is similar to that with sediments. PCBs were measured in the interstitial waters and sediments of three box cores obtained from New Bedford Harbor and Buzzards Bay, MA. PCB concentrations were highly elevated in interstitial waters. A sediment-transport model predicted that organic colloids could be important in the flux of highly sorbed PCBs across the sediment-water interface, but that diffusive migration of PCBs in coastal sediments should be small.

• Research Organization: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, MA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5643766
• Report Number(s): PB-89-203616/XAB; WHOI--86-19
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

510200 -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
520200* -- Environment
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AROMATICS
CHEMISTRY
CHLORINATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
COASTAL REGIONS
COLLOIDS
DISPERSIONS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
FIELD TESTS
GEOCHEMISTRY
HALOGENATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
MASS TRANSFER
ORGANIC CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
SEDIMENTS
SOILS
SORPTION
TESTING
WATER POLLUTION