ABSTRACT
The sediment record, as revealed in sediment cores, has been widely used to reconstruct the history of contaminant input in estuaries [1-9]. The basic assumption in using the sediment record to reveal contaminant input trends is that contaminant inputs of synthetic organochlorine compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) readily adsorb to sedimenting particles and equilibrate
20.1 Introduction ..........................................................................................................................469 20.2 Materials and Methods ......................................................................................................... 471
20.2.1 Preliminary Sampling and Sediment Analysis ........................................................ 471 20.2.2 Coring Procedures .................................................................................................... 471 20.2.3 Analysis of Sediments, PCBs, and PAHs ................................................................. 471
20.2.3.1 Physical Characterization of Sediment ...................................................... 471 20.2.3.2 Analysis of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Polychlorinated
Biphenyls .................................................................................................... 472 20.3 Results and Discussion ......................................................................................................... 473
20.3.1 Advantages of Using Abandoned Boat Slips for Historical Core Studies ................ 473 20.3.2 PAHs in Savannah River Estuary ............................................................................. 473 20.3.3 PCBs in Savannah River Estuary ............................................................................. 474 20.3.4 Pesticides in Savannah River Estuary ...................................................................... 475 20.3.5 PCBs in Brunswick Harbor ...................................................................................... 475 20.3.6 PCBs in Sapelo Island Core ...................................................................................... 476
20.4 Summary and Conclusions ................................................................................................... 477 Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................... 478 References ...................................................................................................................................... 478
relatively rapidly with the sediment. In addition, sedimentary processes must not act to disturb the building of this record. If these requirements are satisˆed, then the sediment column represents a continuous, complete historical sequence of contaminant accumulation. Deposition and accumulation are two terms used by sedimentologists and the distinction between these two terms has been discussed by McKee et al. [10]. Deposition is the temporary emplacement of particles in the seabed. Accumulation is the net sum of many episodes of deposition and removal over long time scales. Differences between rates of deposition and accumulation affect the ability of an environment to record sedimentary events.
