Baseline hydrocarbons in Baffin Bay sediments, 2008-2009 (NGMP ID EC13)

Sediment cores were collected by box coring at eleven locations in northern Baffin Bay (including the North Water Polynya, Lancaster Sound, Scott Inlet, and Gibbs Fjord) during the ArcticNet 2008 and 2009 cruises. Plexiglass tubes (10 cm diameter) were pushed into the sediments; cores were between 17 and 36 cm long. The cores were extruded and sliced on the ship into sections at 0.5 cm intervals for the first 10 cm, then 1 cm intervals thereafter. All sections were stored in Whirlpak® bags and kept frozen at -40°C until analysis. Hydrocarbons were analyzed by AXYS Analytical Services Ltd. (Sidney, BC). Hydrocarbon analyses were based on a modified EPA 8270 method. Samples were spiked with deuterated surrogate standards, followed by Soxhlet extraction using dichloromethane, chromatographic clean-up and fractionation (into PAH and alkane fractions), and analysis by gas chromatography (GC, RTX-5)/low-resolution mass spectrometry (LRMS). Quantification was done using relative recovery factors (RRF). A total of 108 compounds and homologue groups were measured.