Equilibrium Sorption of Tributyltin Chloride by Chesapeake Bay Sediments

Sorption of tributyltin chloride (TBT) on selected sediments from Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries has been measured to establish ranges for TBT sorption coefficients. Twenty-four hour sorption isotherms were linear and gave sorption coefficients on the order of . Twenty-four hour desorption isotherms indicate that the sorption is reversible. To examine the dependence of TBT sorption on salinity, sediment was equilibrated with TBT solutions that spanned estuarine salinity conditions. The resulting sorption coefficients decreased with increasing salinity and varied by a factor of two over the salinity range.