The distribution characteristics of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the surface sediments of Ross Sea and Drake Passage, Antarctica: A 192 congeners analysis

Deng, Zhaochao; Han, Xibin; Chen, Chunlei; Wang, Heng; Ma, Bingbing; Zhang, Dongdong; Zhang, Zhichao; Zhang, Chunfang

The distribution characteristics of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the surface sediments of Ross Sea and Drake Passage, Antarctica: A 192 congeners analysis

2020

A total of 23 sediment samples are collected from Ross Sea and Drake Passage to investigate the distribution characteristics of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the Antarctic marine sediments. Over 51 kinds of PCBs are detected through exhaustive searches using multiple reaction monitoring system. The results show that the concentration of individual PCB congener and total PCBs vary greatly among sampling sites, ranging from not detected to 49.75 ng g⁻¹ and 3.77 to 246.86 ng g⁻¹, respectively. The average PCBs level in Ross Sea is ten times higher than that in Drake Passage. Two different homologues, hexa- and tetra-CBs, give high contributions to ∑PCBs level in most samples from Ross Sea and Drake Passage, respectively. Our results support that the marine sediments might be an important sink for PCBs. Besides, the biological pump and the primary productivity might be responsible for the distribution differences of PCBs between Ross Sea and Drake Passage.

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