Determination of polychlorobiphenyls in Venice Lagoon sediments

Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) congeners were measured in 14 sediment samp les collected at five sites in the Venice Lagoon selected on the basis of a supposed diversity of inputs and of pollution levels. The PCBs were determ ined after a sonication assisted extraction by gaschromatography mass spect rometry (GCMS). The sum of the congener concentrations determined in the sa mples range from 4.05 to 239.15 ng/g on a dry weight basis. The concentrati on values are very variable both comparing the sites and comparing differen t samples from the same site and can be connected to the sand percentage in the sediment samples. The correlation matrix obtained from data matrix usi ng the congener concentrations as variables shows high values, mostly betwe en 0.964 and 1, suggesting that the pattern of the PCB congeners and the ra tios among the concentrations in Venice Lagoon sediments are more or less c onstant; the samples differ only in the concentration level. (C) 2001 Elsev ier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.