TY - JOUR
T1 - Concentrations of PCBs in coastal mangrove sediments of Hong Kong
AU - Tam, N. F.Y.
AU - Yao, M. W.Y.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors wish to thank the Government Chemists of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (HKSAR) for the use of the accredited standard method. Acknowledgement is also given to Dr. W.O. Lee for fruitful discussion. The work described in this paper is partially support by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the HKSAR (Project no. 9040549).
PY - 2002
Y1 - 2002
N2 - The concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in surface sediments of ten mangrove sites in Hong Kong were determined by Congener-specific and Arcolor methods. Spatial variations were found between mangrove sites and within the same site, indicating that the sediment samples were heterogeneous and total PCBs concentrations in mangrove sediments should be normalised to compensate for natural variability and for identifying serious anthropogenic contamination. In addition to total organic carbon, Al, Fe and Mn were possible normalisers. Based on PCB/normaliser ratio and 95% prediction limits of scatter plots between total PCB and normaliser, all mangrove sites were not seriously contaminated by human activities. The estimated total PCBs concentrations (quantified by Congener-specific method) for most sediment ranged from 0.5 to 5.8 ngg-1 (dry weight, n=92). However, very high concentrations of PCB were found in sub-samples from Yi O, Tolo Pond and Lai Chi Wo, suggesting that these samples represented the PCB contaminated 'hot spots'.
AB - The concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in surface sediments of ten mangrove sites in Hong Kong were determined by Congener-specific and Arcolor methods. Spatial variations were found between mangrove sites and within the same site, indicating that the sediment samples were heterogeneous and total PCBs concentrations in mangrove sediments should be normalised to compensate for natural variability and for identifying serious anthropogenic contamination. In addition to total organic carbon, Al, Fe and Mn were possible normalisers. Based on PCB/normaliser ratio and 95% prediction limits of scatter plots between total PCB and normaliser, all mangrove sites were not seriously contaminated by human activities. The estimated total PCBs concentrations (quantified by Congener-specific method) for most sediment ranged from 0.5 to 5.8 ngg-1 (dry weight, n=92). However, very high concentrations of PCB were found in sub-samples from Yi O, Tolo Pond and Lai Chi Wo, suggesting that these samples represented the PCB contaminated 'hot spots'.
KW - Arcolor
KW - Congener-specific
KW - Mangroves
KW - Normalisation
KW - Polychlorinated biphenyls
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0035993799&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S0025-326X(01)00306-X
DO - 10.1016/S0025-326X(01)00306-X
M3 - Article
C2 - 12222887
AN - SCOPUS:0035993799
SN - 0025-326X
VL - 44
SP - 642
EP - 651
JO - Marine Pollution Bulletin
JF - Marine Pollution Bulletin
IS - 7
ER -