SPECIATION OF ORGANOMETAL AND ORGANOHALOGEN COMPOUNDS IN RELATION TO GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL-POLLUTION

Speciation of the elements emitted into the atmosphere plays an import ant role in their long range transport over the globe and their eventu al pollution of remote environments. This paper describes recent resul ts of our laboratory in: (1) organolead determinations in archives of snow and ice in Greenland and the Mont Blanc region in Western Europe. Speciation analysis together with the determination of total inorgani c lead gives a clear indication on the extent of global pollution when compounds are transported over long distances in the atmosphere; and (2) determinations of volatile halocarbons in macroalgae whose transpo rt in the stratosphere could interfere with the ozone destruction proc ess. It is shown that the analytical methodology for the determination of a number of species is now well enough developed to allow ultra-se nsitive and reliable measurements in samples collected in the remote e nvironment and to derive interesting conclusions on long range transpo rt processes.