ARSENIC, TRACE-METALS, AND ORGANIC MICRO CONTAMINANTS IN SEDIMENTS FROM THE PECHORA-SEA, RUSSIA

Grain size material <63 mu m, TOC, TN, PAHs and organochlorines, and t he major (Al and Fe) and trace (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Li, Mn, Ni, Pb, V, and Zn) elements have been determined for grab and core samples from the southeast part of the Barents Sea known as the Pechora Sea, Russia . Most of the organic matter appears to be of marine origin, but a ter restrial origin for OM is indicated for the coastal areas in the vicin ity of the Pechora estuary. All organic micro contaminant concentratio ns, except lindane, were low. Lithium normalization of Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, V, and Zn concentrations indicates that they are at or near n atural levels as a result of natural granular and mineralogical variab ility in the sediments. High levels of arsenic, however, occur in fine grained surface and subsurface sediments. The As enrichment is most l ikely due to the deposition and post-depositional modification of As-r ich radioactive particulate material dispersed into the Pechora Sea by underwater nuclear explosions in Guba Chernaya on the southwest coast of Novaya Zemlya during the 1950s and 1960s.