NATIONAL MONITORING STUDY OF PCBS AND ORGANOCHLORINE PESTICIDES IN SEDIMENTS OF COASTAL KOREA

Abstract

To assess the contamination of organochlorine compounds (OCs) in the marine environment of Korea, a nationwide monitoring program was conducted. Surface sediments were collected from 138 sites along the coasts including both conservative and pollution-concerned areas and analysed. Polychlorinated biphenyls and organochlorine pesticides were widely distributed in the Korean coastal environment, where PCBs and DDTs were major organochlorines. The overall concentrations of åPCB, åDDT, åHCH and åCHL in surface sediments were in the rage of 0.088 – 199 ng/g, 0.006 – 135 ng/g, ND – 5.46 ng/g, and ND – 3.26 ng/g, respectively. The åPCB concentrations at about 6% of the sites surveyed were over the effect range-low (ER-L, 50 ng/g) value suggested by NOAA (1991), but all of them were below the effect range-median (ER-M, 400 ng/g). The concentrations of åDDT, åCHL, dieldrin and endrin above ER-L value were determined at 22%, 67%, 44% and 15% of the sites, respectively. The distribution patterns of PCBs, DDTs, CHLs, and endosulfan II were significantly correlated each other. The spatially high levels of organochlorine compounds were related with industrialized and urbanized areas. Particularly high PCB concentrations were determined in harbor and industrialized area.