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Relationship Between Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Pelagic Tar in the Mediterranean Sea, 1974–75

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Adam Zsolnay ,
Byron F. Morris  and
James N. Butler
Adam Zsolnay
Affiliation:
Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, North Carolina 28516, U.S.A.
Byron F. Morris
Affiliation:
Research Associate, Bermuda Biological Station, St George's West, Bermuda.
James N. Butler
Affiliation:
Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Chemistry, Division of Engineering and Applied Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, U.S.A.
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Extract

During the winter of 1974–75, both tar and aromatic hydrocarbons were sampled in the Mediterranean Sea. A detailed report of the tar findings were given in a previous paper (Morris et al., 1975). Aromatic hydrocarbon concentrations at a depth of 1 m averaged 167 ng/1 (expressed as phenanthrene equivalents). This is only about 60% as great as the average aromatic hydrocarbon concentration found in the Baltic Sea, but is 5 times greater than what was found in the north-west Atlantic—including the Sargasso Sea (Zsolnay, 1977).

No relationship was found between tar and aromatic hydrocarbon concentrations. This would indicate that the concentration of the latter is dependent upon other factors—such as the presence of other organic compounds that are capable of keeping the hydrophobic hydrocarbons in the water column by ‘solubilization.’

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 5 , Issue 4 , Winter 1978 , pp. 295 - 297
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1978

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References

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