Differences in measured amounts of total petroleum hydrocarbons by GC/FID and NAFCs by HRMS indicate that the two methods provide complementary information about the nature of dissolved organic species in a soil or water leachate samples. NAFC molecule class O S is a possible tracer for LOS seepage. CE/LRMS provides complementary information and is a feasible and practical option for source evaluation of NAFCs in water.

The cover image, by Matthew S. MacLennan et al., is based on the Research Article Characterization of Athabasca Lean Oil Sands and Mixed Surficial Materials: Comparison of Capillary Electrophoresis‐Low Resolution Mass Spectrometry and High‐Resolution Mass Spectrometry, DOI: .

The effectiveness of present approaches to the study of the fate and transport of phthalate esters and adipates in surface water and ground water samples is limited by ubiquitous levels of background contamination in the field and the laboratory. An alternative approach is described in which C7-C11 alcohols are used as indicator compounds to circumvent the problems associated with contamination arising from plasticizers at an industrial site. The approach combines information obtained from GC/MS analyses of selected samples with information from a cost-effective pre-screening GC/FID technique. The approach (a) provides broad spectrum data for trend analysis, (b) minimizes the occurrence of false positives, and (c) reduces the cost of analyses required for the delineation of contaminated plumes. For contaminated samples, the concentration of phthalate esters was approximately 3-4 times higher than detectable levels of alcohols. Although the detection limits are 0.1 mg/L and 1 μg/g for water and soil samples, respectively, there is a threshold concentration of phthalate esters of approximately 300 μg/g, below which alcohols were not observed.

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