PCBs and PAHs in marine sediment, of Admiralty Bay

This project focused on the PCBs in sediments of Admiral Bay on King George Island collected in the 1993/1994 austral summer. The individual concentrations of PCB congeners ranged from < 0.05 to 0.57 ng g-1 dry weight and the levels of total PCBs ranged from 2.03 to 5.91 ng g-1 dry weight. These levels are comparable to those found in Antarctic sediments from pristine regions
The contents of aliphatichydrocarbons (AHs) and PAHs were measured in marine surface sediments around the Brazilian station at Admiralty Bay, during the summers of 1997/98 and 1999/2000. Total aliphatic hydrocarbons ranged from 0.15 to 13.28 μg g-1(dry weight) while n-alkanes varied between 0.10 and 9.63 μg g-1. The distribution of n-alkanes showed significant quantities of long chain n-alkanes (n-C-22 to n-C-34) at sites near the Brazilian station that may be attributed to the station activities. A short chain n-alkanes sequence (n-C- 12 to n-C-21) associated with diesel fuel Arctic (DFA) was present in all the samples. Total PAHs varied from 9.45 to 270.5 ng g-1. The higher PAHs level and the presence of an unresolved complex mixture only in sediment from the sewage outfall was considered as an indication of oil contamination at that location. A slight increasein PAHs near the Brazilian station since 1993 was attributed to the increase in the number of staff over recent years.