Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers in the Sediments of the Great Lakes. 2. Lakes Michigan and Huron

Abstract

Sediment cores were taken in 2002 in Lakes Michigan and Huron at six locations. A total of 75 samples were characterized, dated using 210Pb, and analyzed for 10 congeners of polybromodiphenyl ether (PBDE) including BDE209, as well as 39 congeners of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The concentrations of nine tri- through hepta-BDE congeners (Sigma9PBDE) in the surficial sediments range from 1.7 to 4 ng g(-1) for Lake Michigan and from 1.0 to 1.9 ng g(-1) for Lake Huron, on the basis of the dry sediment weight. The Sigma9PBDEs fluxes to the sediment around the year 2002 are from 36 to 109 pg cm(-2) yr(-1) in Lake Michigan and from 30 to 73 pg cm(-2) yr(-1) in Lake Huron, with spatial variations in both lakes. The flux of BDE209 ranges from 0.64 to 2.04 ng cm(-2) yr(-1) and from 0.67 to 1.41 ng cm(-2) yr(-1) in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, respectively. Dramatic increases in PBDE concentrations and fluxes upward toward the sediment surface and the present time are evident at all locations. The inventory of PBDEs in both lakes appears to be dependent upon latitude and the proximity to populated areas, implying that north-bound air plumes from urban areas are the major sources of PBDEs found in the lake sediments at locations away from the shores. Heavier congeners are more abundant in the sediments than in air and fish samples in the region. BDE209 is about 96% and 91% of the total PBDEs on a mass basis in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, respectively; both are higher than the 89% found in Lake Superior, although a t test shows that the value for Lake Huron is not statistically different from that for Lake Superior at the 95% confidence level.

PBDEs, PCBs and PCDD/Fs in the sediments from seven major river basins in China: Occurrence, congener profile and spatial tendency

“…Extremely high values were observed in the sites S12 (61,500 ng g −1 ) in Yangtze River Delta, S22 (559 ng g −1 ) and S23 (141 ng g −1 ) in Pearl River Basin. These results were higher than those observed in Lake Maggiore in Europe (0.06-27 ng g −1 dw, Vives et al, 2007) and Great Lake area (Song et al, 2005a(Song et al, , 2005b(Song et al, , 2004. PBDE levels were relatively higher than the other two contaminants in Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Basin and Haihe River Basin, where the developed industries and commerce were more aggregated.…”

Levels and distributions of polybrominated diphenyl ethers, hexabromocyclododecane, and tetrabromobisphenol A in sediments from Taihu Lake, China

“…However, the BDE-209 concentration was considerably lower than the concentrations in the Viskan river (Sellström et al 1998) and the Scheldt estuary (Verslycke et al 2005). Our sediment concentrations were comparable to those reported for sediments from the Great Lakes (Song et al 2005) and Korea Bay (Moon et al 2007), but somewhat higher than those in other sediments from Europe, North America, and Asia (Ramu et al 2010;Minh et al 2007;Eljarrat et al 2005;Guzzella et al 2008;Yun et al 2008;Ilyas et al 2011).…”

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in sediments of the coastal East China Sea: Occurrence, distribution and mass inventory

“…P PBDE 7 concentrations were lower than those in the Pearl River and Macao Coast (Mai et al, 2005), compared with the South China Sea (Mai et al, 2005) and Xiamen offshore areas , and higher than the Bohai Sea (Pan et al, 2010), Yangtze River Delta (Chen et al, 2006) and Southwest Taiwan (Jiang et al, 2011). Compared with other area in the world, BDE-209 levels in sediments of the coastal ECS were significantly lower than those detected in the coastal waters of Korea (Moon et al, 2007b), Busan bay, Ulsan bay, Jinhae bay (Moon et al, 2007a), the Great Lakes (except Superior Lake) in USA (Song et al, 2005a(Song et al, , 2005b, while slightly higher than Superior Lake (Song et al, 2004). P PBDE 7 concentrations were higher than those reported in the coastal waters of Korea (Moon et al, 2007b), comparable to Busan bay, Ulsan bay, Jinhae bay (Moon et al, 2007a) and the Great Lakes in USA (Song et al, 2004(Song et al, , 2005a(Song et al, , 2005b.…”