Preface
This book is concerned with a discussion of methods currently available in the world
literature up to 2011 for the determination of organic and organometallic compounds
in soils, river and marine sediments and industrial sludges.
In the case of soils the presence of deliberately added or adventitious organic
compounds can cause contamination of the tissues of crops grown on the land or
animals feeding on the land and, consequently, can cause adverse toxic effects on man,
animals, birds and insects and have a profound effect on the ecosystem. Drainage
of these substances from the soil can cause pollution of adjacent streams, rivers and
eventually the oceans. Some of the substances included in this category are pesticides,
herbicides, growth regulators, organic fertilisers, crop sprays, sheep dips, etc.
The presence of organic compounds in river and oceanic sediments is due, in part,
to manmade pollution and monitoring the levels of these substances in the sediment and
sediment cores provides an indication of the time dependence of their concentration
over large time spans. Contamination of sediments is found not only in rivers but also
in estuarine and oceanic sediments and thus sediment analysis provides a means of
tracking organic from their source through the ecosystem.
Another consideration is that fish, particularly bottom feeders and crustacean
pick up contaminants when sediments enter their gills and the contamination of these
creatures has definite toxicological implications both for the creatures themselves, for
man who eats them and, in the case of fish meal, for animals.
Sediments have the property of absorbing organic contaminants from water within
their bulk (accumulation) and, indeed, it has been shown that the concentration, for
example, of some types of insecticide in river sediments is some 10 000 times greater
than occurs in the surrounding water. Slow subsequent release of the substances will
occur from sediment into the surrounding water and, consequently, will continue to
cause contamination even after the source of pollution into the water has been stopped.
To date, insufficient attention has been given to the analysis of sediments and one
of the objects of this book is to draw the attention of analysts and others concerned
to the methods available and their sensitivity and limitations.
Substances that are found in sediments include all the soil pollutants mentioned
above and also various organic compounds of an industrial origin such as phthalates, chlorophenols, hydrocarbons, polychloro-biphenyls and dioxins, organometallic
compounds to name but a few.
Organometallic compounds are included as it is becoming increasingly apparent
that these compounds occur extensively throughout the ecosystem either as direct
This book is concerned with a discussion of methods currently available in the world
literature up to 2011 for the determination of organic and organometallic compounds
in soils, river and marine sediments and industrial sludges.
In the case of soils the presence of deliberately added or adventitious organic
compounds can cause contamination of the tissues of crops grown on the land or
animals feeding on the land and, consequently, can cause adverse toxic effects on man,
animals, birds and insects and have a profound effect on the ecosystem. Drainage
of these substances from the soil can cause pollution of adjacent streams, rivers and
eventually the oceans. Some of the substances included in this category are pesticides,
herbicides, growth regulators, organic fertilisers, crop sprays, sheep dips, etc.
The presence of organic compounds in river and oceanic sediments is due, in part,
to manmade pollution and monitoring the levels of these substances in the sediment and
sediment cores provides an indication of the time dependence of their concentration
over large time spans. Contamination of sediments is found not only in rivers but also
in estuarine and oceanic sediments and thus sediment analysis provides a means of
tracking organic from their source through the ecosystem.
Another consideration is that fish, particularly bottom feeders and crustacean
pick up contaminants when sediments enter their gills and the contamination of these
creatures has definite toxicological implications both for the creatures themselves, for
man who eats them and, in the case of fish meal, for animals.
Sediments have the property of absorbing organic contaminants from water within
their bulk (accumulation) and, indeed, it has been shown that the concentration, for
example, of some types of insecticide in river sediments is some 10 000 times greater
than occurs in the surrounding water. Slow subsequent release of the substances will
occur from sediment into the surrounding water and, consequently, will continue to
cause contamination even after the source of pollution into the water has been stopped.
To date, insufficient attention has been given to the analysis of sediments and one
of the objects of this book is to draw the attention of analysts and others concerned
to the methods available and their sensitivity and limitations.
Substances that are found in sediments include all the soil pollutants mentioned
above and also various organic compounds of an industrial origin such as phthalates, chlorophenols, hydrocarbons, polychloro-biphenyls and dioxins, organometallic
compounds to name but a few.
Organometallic compounds are included as it is becoming increasingly apparent
that these compounds occur extensively throughout the ecosystem either as direct