Arsenic in sediments from the southeastern Baltic Sea

Arsenic concentrations in Baltic Sea sediments close to chemical munitions dumpsites

“…This study found no such high values in sediments; however, mean concentrations of arsenic in those areas were higher than in reference sites. There is also a difference between results from this study compared to values obtained by Garnaga et al (2006). In the present study higher concentrations of arsenic were observed in the area of Gotland Deep versus those reported by Garnaga et al (2006); mean 15 μg g À 1 and 10 μg g À 1 , respectively.…”

“…There is also a difference between results from this study compared to values obtained by Garnaga et al (2006). In the present study higher concentrations of arsenic were observed in the area of Gotland Deep versus those reported by Garnaga et al (2006); mean 15 μg g À 1 and 10 μg g À 1 , respectively. Such differences between arsenic concentrations may result from different sediment properties, for example if the Lithuanian EEZ lower fine fraction content prevails in some of the sampling points, or from the effects of multiannual trends.…”

“…However these concentrations are relatively low compared to those reported in other Baltic and North Sea investigations (Garnaga et al, 2006;Knobloch et al, 2013). Different authors report background concentrations of arsenic in Baltic Sea sediments ranging from 5 to 20 μg g À 1 .…”

“…The fraction of sediment grains o2 μm acts as a major sink for pollutants introduced into natural waters, mostly because of the abundance of clay minerals, together with associated coatings of organic material and the presence of iron and manganese (oxy)hydroxides (Emelyanov, 2007;Garnaga et al, 2006). Therefore sediment characteristics have an important influence on arsenic enrichment and the spatial variability of arsenic concentrations depends largely on the sedimentary environment, sediment mineralogy and redox conditions, as well as the amount of organic matter and the argillaceous fraction content of the sediments.…”

Human health risk screening due to consumption of fish contaminated with chemical warfare agents in the Baltic Sea

“…environmental concentrations of the CWA compounds disposed of at the dumpsite east of Bornholm [6]. Only one positive measured CWA value (Clark I) is currently publicly available for the Bornholm dumpsite [7]. Part of the reason for the lack of monitoring is that CWAs are illicit compounds; hence availability of chemical reference standards for analytical method development is limited.…”