Determination of PAHs and PCBs in the polish area of shipwreck exploration

Wrecks are a serious danger to marine ecosystems. This danger includes the possibility of a single spill of toxic substances from a wreck, or may result from slow seepage of the substances. The investigations of organic pollutants in water and bottom sediment samples were taken in Pomeranian Bay, Puck Bay, and the Gulf of Gdańsk from sites where the wrecks of the ships Neuwerk, Orion, Schlessien, and a fishing vessel were lifted. In the present work are shown results of analysis of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons – PAHs (naphthalene, acenaphtylene, acenaphtene, fluorene, phenanthrene, anthracene, fluoranthene, pyrene, benzo(a)anthracene, chrysene, benzo(b)fluoranthene, benzo(k)fluoranthene, benzo(a)pyrene, dibenz(ah)anthracene, benzo(ghi)perylene, indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene), and 7 polychlorinated biphenyls – PCBs (CB 28, CB 52, CB 101, CB 118, CB 138, CB 153, CB 180) in water and sediment samples. Samples were taken at sites from which wrecks had been lifted and in reference areas. Organic pollutants were analyzed using the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) technique. Levels of pollutants of PAHs were analyzed in water samples contained from below detection limit 1.0 ng⋅dm⁻³ to 31.0±0.6 ng⋅dm⁻³. The concentrations of PCB congeners in water samples were below detection limit 1.0 ng⋅dm⁻³. The sum of PAHs in sediment samples ranged from 0.091±0.004 mg⋅kg⁻¹ d.w. to 6.57±0.32 mg⋅kg⁻¹ d.w. and the sum of PCBs oscillated from 0.001 mg⋅kg⁻¹ d.w. to 0.42±0.02 mg⋅kg⁻¹ d.w.