HP6 Emerging Pollutants
202 Oregon Ballroom
1:20 PM - 5:20 PM, Thursday
() Polybrominated diphenyl ethers in sediments from the Pearl River Delta and north of South China Sea.
Bixian, Mai1, Shejun, Chen1, Xiaojun, Luo1, Mei, Yu1, Guoying, Sheng1, Jiamo, Fu1, 1 State key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Science, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P.R. China
ABSTRACT- Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), which are used as flame retardants for plastics, textiles, and electronic circuitry, are now ubiquitous environmental pollutants. Some of PBDEs have been shown to be persistent, lipophilic, and have high bioaccumulation factor. Their presence in environment has become of an increasing concern to scientists over the past decade. The Peal River Delta is one of rapidly developing regions in China. Concentrations of individual PBDE congeners (11 congeners) were measured in 66 surface sediment samples, of which 40 samples from three major tributaries of the Peal River Delta, 12 from the estuary, 14 from the north of southern China Sea, and also in two sediment cores in the estuary. The objects of our study are to investigate the spatial distribution of PBDEs in the Pearl River Delta, the transportation of PBDEs from rivers to estuary, and future to the southern China Sea, and to compare the levels of PBDEs in sediment of the Peal River Delta with other places in the world. Our primary results showed that sediments from Dongjiang River, which run through Dongguan and Huizhou, two famous electronic equipment manufacturing centers in the world, had the highest level of PBDEs than sediments from other rivers. Sediments from Xijiang River have the lowest level range of PBDEs, subjecting long-rang atmospheric transport. Temporal trend of PBDEs will be also discussed based on the data in two sediment cores from Pearl River estuary.
Key words: Pearl River Delta, Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), sediment