Differential weathering of PCB congeners in sediments of Lake Hartwell, SC

Conference · Thu Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1988 · Preprints of Papers Presented at National Meeting, Division of Water, Air and Waste Chemistry, American Chemical Society; (USA)

OSTI ID:7165696

Germann, G G; Elzerman, A W ^[1]

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1. Dept. of Environmental Systems Engineering, Clemson, SC (USA)

PCB contaminated sediments from Lake Hartwell, SC were investigated to determine if physiochemical and biochemical weathering processes that reportedly have altered congener composition in other systems were operating. Significant changes in the mix of PCB congeners present in surficial sediments observed with increasing distance downstream are probably due to physiochemical weathering processes. This differential partitioning of PCB congeners is explainable by differences in their sediment-water partition coefficients (K{sub p}s) and Henry law constants (HLCs), and result in chromatographic separation as congeners travel down the system. Significant changes in PCB composition with depth in sediment were observed in the higher contaminated upstream samples but were not in the less contaminated downstream samples, providing contradictory evidence as to the presence in Lake Hartwell of biochemical weathering processes such as reductive dechlorination.

• OSTI ID: 7165696
• Report Number(s): CONF-8809264--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Preprints of Papers Presented at National Meeting, Division of Water, Air and Waste Chemistry, American Chemical Society; (USA) Journal Volume: 28:2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540320* -- Environment
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
AROMATICS
CHLORINATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
CONTAMINATION
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
FEDERAL REGION IV
FRESH WATER
HALOGENATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INTERFACES
ISOMERS
LAKES
MASS TRANSFER
NORTH AMERICA
ORGANIC CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
SEDIMENT-WATER INTERFACES
SEDIMENTS
SOUTH CAROLINA
STRUCTURAL CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
SURFACE WATERS
USA
WATER
WATER POLLUTION
WEATHERING