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Environmental bioavailability of hydrophobic organochlorines in sediments—A review
Author(s) -
Qiu Xiujin,
Davis John W.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
remediation journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.762
H-Index - 27
eISSN - 1520-6831
pISSN - 1051-5658
DOI - 10.1002/rem.20002
Subject(s) - environmental chemistry , chemistry , bioaccumulation , bioavailability , sediment , sorption , soil water , total organic carbon , adsorption , environmental science , organic chemistry , soil science , geology , paleontology , bioinformatics , biology
A number of hydrophobic organochlorines, such as hexachlorobenzene and polychlorinateddibenzo‐p‐dioxins/dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), have been reported to be persistent andbioaccumulative; however, their availability to biota appear to be limited due to strong sorption tosoil/sediment and sequestration with age. Studies to date have shown that the bioavailability of hydrophobicorganic chemicals (HOCs) in sediments is highly variable, depending not only on a chemical'slipophicity (K ow ), but also molecular steric conformation and sediment characteristics. Asubdomain of sediment organic carbon, so‐called black carbon (BC), which has much higher affinityto planar HOCs than amorphous organic carbon, has been found to be the predominant repository of many HOCs. Thesediment/soil‐bound HOCs are composed of a rapid and reversible desorbing labile fraction and aslow‐desorbing, or resistant‐to‐desorbing, nonlabile fraction. The latter can account for upto 98 percent of the total. A number of chemical extraction methods have been under development to measure theactual bioavailable concentrations in soil/sediment and have shown some correlation to the results ofbioaccumulation and/or biodegradation tests. To date, most of the published studies on this subject havefocused on polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). This review summarizes the governing processes andthe testing methodologies relevant to the environmental bioavailability of hydrophobic organochlorines in soilsand sediments. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.