Toxaphene in the Great Lakes

This paper presents the most current data for toxaphene in the water, sediments, and biota of the Laurentian Great Lakes of North America. Concentrations in water range from 1.1 ng/L in Lake Superior to 0.17 ng/L in Lake Ontario. Lake Superior has the highest water concentration, which is contrary to the pattern seen for other pollutants. The observed log particle-water partition coefficient was 4.5. Recent sediments had similar concentrations among the lakes (approx. 15 ng/g dry weight), but different homolog compositions. The log bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) normalized to lipid or organic carbon were 5.8, 6.5, 6.3, 6.7, 6.7, and 7.0 for phytoplankton, net zooplankton, Mysis, Bythotrephes, sculpin, and lake trout. These data clearly show that toxaphene biomagnifies in the foodweb.