AZAARENES IN SEDIMENTS, SUSPENDED PARTICLES AND AEROSOL ASSOCIATED WITH THE RIVER MERSEY ESTUARY

The distributions of a variety of azaarenes in suspended particulate m aterial and sediments in the River Mersey estuary and two tributary ca nals are described. Azaarene concentrations in the local urban atmosph ere are also provided. Total azaarene concentrations (the sum of the c oncentrations of 48 individual azaarenes) range from 2-364 ng . g(-1) for estuarine suspended material and 128-2451 ng . g(-1) for canal sed iments. Atmospheric aerosol concentrations fell within the range 1 to > 9 ng . m(-3). Whilst sediments and suspended matter showed concentra tions similar to those previously reported, the atmospheric concentrat ions were considerably higher and it is hypothesised that deposition o f aerosols is a major source of azaarenes to this estuarine system. Do wn estuary removal of the lower molecular weight azaarene species from the particulate fraction is reported and attributed to selective solu bilisation of these molecules. Seasonal variations in both the total a nd relative azaarene concentrations occur with the greatest abundance of all species in the colder months when post-depositional alteration is least and inputs from combustion sources are greatest. A clear seas onal variation in atmospheric aerosol azaarenes is reported and this a ppears to be reflected in the sedimentary record. (C) 1997 Elsevier Sc ience B.V.