R2 AM Contaminated Harbor and River Sediment
Thursday, 17 November 2005: 8:00 AM - 11:40 AM in Ballroom 2
(KLO-1117-832861) Organic contaminants in Baltimore Harbor sediments: phase distribution and accumulation by Nereis in laboratory exposures.
Klosterhaus, S1, Fisher, D2, Ziegler, G2, Unger, M3, Baker, J1, 1 University of Maryland Chesapeake Biological Lab, Solomons, MD, USA2 University of Maryland Wye Research & Education Center, Queenstown, MD, USA3 Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Gloucester Point, VA, USA
ABSTRACT- As part of a larger effort to determine the chemical-specific source(s) of sediment toxicity in Baltimore Harbor, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and mono-, di-, and tri- butyltins (MBT/DBT/TBT) were quantified in sediment and pore water collected from 8 sites within the Harbor in August of 2004. 
PAH (42 total) ranged from 3000-20000 ng/g dry in sediments and 90-300 ng/L in pore water. PCB (111 congeners total) ranged from 90-1400 ng/g dry in sediments and 2-25 ng/L in pore water. In sediments, TBT was detected at all sites (7-170 ng/g dry), while DBT was detected at only half the sites (2-30 ng/g dry) and MBT was not detected at any sites (DL < 2 ng/g dry). MBT, DBT, and TBT were not detected in pore water at any sites (DL < 10 ng/L). Concentrations of the flame retardants PBDEs (34 congeners total, including BDE 209) in sediments and pore water will be reported, providing the first measurements for Baltimore Harbor and their sediment-pore water partitioning in an estuarine environment. Bioaccumulation experiments were conducted using the same sediment where uncontaminated Nereis virens were exposed to sediments from 5 Harbor sites plus a reference control site for 28 days. At one of the sites a time series sampling regime was conducted, during which N. virens were collected on days 2, 4, 8, 16, 28, and 56 of exposure to Harbor sediment (uptake phase) and then on days 7, 14, and 21 after being transferred to control sediment (depuration phase). Concentrations of PAHs, PCBs, PBDEs, and butyltins in N. virens after exposure to Harbor sediments will be discussed, as well as the influence of sediment and pore water as exposure routes of organic contaminants to a representative deposit-feeding species exposed to a highly contaminated, estuarine sediment matrix.
Key words: Baltimore, bioaccumulation, Nereis, sediment