ANALYSIS OF ORGANIC MICROPOLLUTANTS IN SEDIMENT SAMPLES OF THE VENICELAGOON, ITALY

Surface sediment samples were collected at six locations of the Lagoon of Venice reflecting potential different contamination sources and re presentative of different hydrological situations. Analysis of polychl orinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/PCDFs), polychlorin ated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), linear alkylbenzenes (LABs) and coprostanol have been carried out by gas chr omatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to assess the influence of vario us pollution sources: urban, industrial and combustion processes. PAHs , PCBs, coprostanol, and LABs showed the highest levels in the sample collected within the city of Venice (Canal Grande) indicating a very h eavy contamination due to combustion sources and to the domestic waste waters directly entering the canals of the city. The highest levels o f PCDD/PCDFs were found in samples collected near the industrial area of Porto Marghera. The investigation on the PCDD/PCDFs homologue profi les suggested the presence of two different sources for these pollutan ts, one due to combustion processes and another one due to the chemica l processes of Porto Marghera.