Persistent organochlorine residues in sediments from the Chukchi Sea, Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska

Three surface sediments and two sediment cores were collected from the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea, and analysed for persistent organochlorines (OCs). The geographical distributions of OCs showed different patterns according to their physicochemical properties. The concentrations of HCHs and HCB revealed rather uniform distribution, suggesting their more transportable nature in long-range atmospheric transport. On the other hand, DDTs and PCBs were predicted to be less transportable via the atmosphere due to the decreasing trends of residue levels in sediments from south to north. The OC profiles in the sediment core from the Gulf of Alaska which seemed to be preserved without turbation revealed the elevated residue levels from bottom to surface layers. This implies that the aerial inputs of OCs in the cold ocean are still continuing significantly. The accumulation rates of OCs into sediments were rather smaller than the atmospheric inputs, indicating that the residue levels in water bodies are unlikely to decrease rapidly in the near future.