PARENT SESSION
39 - Appraising and Quantifying Bioavailable Pollutant Fractions
7:50 AM to 6:30 PM, Tuesday, 14 May 2002
Exhibition Area

(39-12) Assessment of Bioavailable Polycycling Aromatic Hydrocarbons in French Coastal Waters: Comparison of Sampling Techniques.

Pazdro, K.^*,1, Moisan, K.², Tronczynski, J.², ¹ Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Powstanców Warszawy 55, Sopot, POLAND² IFREMER/Centre de Nantes, Nantes, FRANCE

ABSTRACT- A field study was carried out in coastal waters of Brittany (France) during April and May 2000. In situ passive samplers -semipermeable membrane devices filled with triolein (SPMDs) and mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) were used to study contamination by polycyclic aromatic compounds originating from the oil spills after 'Erika' tanker accident in December 1999. Large volume sampling of particulate and dissolved fractions onto filters and XAD2 resins was used to measure the concentrations of particulate and dissolved compunds during the experiment. The samples were processed and analysed by GC-MS for determination PAH concentrations. Both, SPMDs and mussels effectively concentrated contaminants covering a fairly wide polarity and molecular weight range (from napthalenes to up to 5-ring PAHs, parent and alkylated). The PAH concentrations measured using conventional technique were generally found to be low and in many cases below the limits of detection. The concentration of PAHs in the membranes and in caged mussels were in the same order of magnitude. The results revealed relatively good accordance of levels of most of compounds with 3,53 levels). The study confirmed the potential of SPMDs for use in marine waters monitoring, producing results comparable with conventional technique and living organisms. However, to make this more reliable and accurate, the adjustment to real environmental conditions should be made by using permeability reference compounds.

Key words: Semipermeable Membrane Devices (SPDM), Blue Mussels, XAD 2, PAH