Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 May 2004
A survey of hydrocarbons and sterols in marine and shoreline sediments was undertaken adjacent to Davis Station in Princess Elizabeth Land, Prydz Bay, Eastern Antarctica to determine the impact of a human settlement, including a sewage outfall on the local marine environment. Soil samples from selected locations onshore were also analysed to ascertain the extent of hydrocarbon contamination emanating from fuel storage facilities and other potential sources. The faecal sterol coprostanol was detected at 13.2 μg g−1 (60% of total sterols) in sediment adjacent to the Davis sewage outfall and up to 5.0 μg g−1 on the shoreline at Davis Beach. These concentrations indicate significant faecal contamination. The absence of coprostanol in faeces from the local wildlife confirms a human origin for this sewage biomarker. Hydrocarbons on the shoreline near Davis were present at up to 5.5 μg g−1 (dry weight of sediment). Biomarker profiles indicate an anthropogenic origin for these hydrocarbons. Onshore, degraded hydrocarbons derived from Special Antarctic Blend distillate were found at relatively high levels in soils at the fuel storage depot (up to 220 μg g−1). The source of these hydrocarbons appeared to be spillage from fuel storage tanks with possible contributions from fuel pipeline leakage and vehicle useage. Concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the soils were very low, generally below 1 ng g−1 (dry weight of sediment) for individual compounds.
To send this article to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about sending to your Kindle. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save this article to your Dropbox account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you used this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your Dropbox account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save this article to your Google Drive account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you used this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your Google Drive account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.