No abstract

Toxicity assessment of environmental compartments, in particular sediments as a highly complex matrix, provides a more direct way to assess potential adverse effects of pollutants present in a sample in contrast to chemical analysis estimating only a quantitative level of xenobiotics. Interactions between chemicals, formations of derivatives and the influence of chemical properties of sediments such as the organic matter content causing the intensified sorption of hydrophobic pollutants suggest that a traditional approach to the sediment quality, based only on chemical analysis may be insufficient. The presented study describes the vertical and horizontal variability of toxicity of Gdańsk Basin sediments. Based on 128 surface sediments samples and using geostatistical methods, a prediction map for the EC50 parameter was created. This allowed the evaluation of the toxicity of the surface sediment layer at any selected point of the study area. The applied analysis can be functional for many other locations worldwide. In the present study, the hypothesis about the location of toxic sediments in the vicinity of Gdańsk Deep, outer Puck Bay and close to Vistula River mouth was further confirmed.

Pentachlorophenol (PCP) is an anthropogenic substance, toxic to humans. The major source of this compound in the environment are wastes from factories producing PCP and materials (textiles, wood) treated with PCP. In 2008, a dossier was prepared to support the inclusion of PCP in Annex I to the Protocol of the 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution on Persistent Organic Pollutants. The draft decision to add PCP along with its salts (NaPCP) and esters (PCPL) in Annex A of the Stockholm Convention was adopted during the seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention in 2015. The aim of present study was to assess the status of contamination in Puck Bay with this harmful substance. The surface bottom sediments of Puck Bay were contaminated with pentachlorophenol to varying degrees, ranging from 17.4 ± 5.6 ng g