Distribution of PCNs, PCBs, and other POPs together with soot and other organic matter in the marine environment of the Grenlandsfjords, Norway

The apparently dissolved concentration of polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) and three planar polychlorinated biphenyls (pPCBs) were sampled and analysed in the water column of a marine fjord system. We also measured how much of these persistent organic pollutants (POPs) were associated with suspended particles. The field observations showed that an unexpectedly high portion of the pollutants were particle-associated. The factor of deviation from model predictions had positive linear regression on the soot carbon:particulate organic carbon ratio of the particles, and on estimates of the soot–water distribution coefficient for the PCNs. The spatial distribution of surface sediment concentrations of PCNs and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) were found to consistently follow the sediment content of soot (fSC) to a larger extent than the bulk organic matter (fOC). There were no systematic differences in the strength of correlation of sediments concentrations of other POPs, i.e. octachlorostyrene and organochlorine pesticides with sediment concentration to fSC and fOC. Mechanisms possible of generating these types of observations, e.g. adsorption to soot carbon in the marine particle, are discussed.