engleski

PAH sediment toxicity assessment in Adriatic Sea

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) were investigated in the bottom sediments on 25 locations in the coastal area of Adriatic Sea. Total PAH concentrations ranged from 14, 98 to 23970, 92 µg kg-1 . The highest PAH levels were determined in sediments from the Sibenik Bay and the lowest PAH levels were determined in sediment near Island of Pag. Unsubstituted, parent PAHs predominated in sediments from the Sibenik Bay and the Coastal area, while methyl-substituted PAHs were dominant in sediments of the Kastela Bay. In order to estimate the possible toxicological significance of PAH concentrations, Sediment Quality Assessment was done according to three different guidelines: Canadian Sediment Quality Guidelines, North America Sediment Quality Guidelines and OSPAR commission quality Guidelines. According to all three applied criteria, high environmental risk was calculated for each station in Sibenik Bay ; for the station in vicinity of the Industrial port of Split and for the two stations in Coastal zone. Low environmental risk was calculated for the remote areas such as Island of Pag, whereas moderate environmental risk was calculated for the majority of stations in Kastela Bay and Coastal area. Sediment extracts were further analysed for acute toxicity using the Microtox® bioassay. Obtained results show disagreement between sediment toxicity calculated upon total PAH levels in sediment and experimentally obtained sediment toxicity. Sediment extracts with low PAH levels were highly toxic indicating that only concentrations of PAH were not accurate indicators of sediment toxicity.

PAH ; Marine polution ; sediment quality assessment

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