Legacy PBDEs and NBFRs in sediments of the tidal River Thames using liquid chromatography coupled to a high resolution accurate mass Orbitrap mass spectrometer

Abstract

Surface sediment samples (n=45) were collected along a 110 km transect of the river Thames in October 2011, starting from Teddington Lock out through the industrial area of London to the southern North Sea. Several legacy and novel brominated flame retardants (NBFRs) were analysed, including 13 polybrominated diphenylethers (

Trends in heavy metals, polychlorinated biphenyls and toxicity from sediment cores of the inner River Thames estuary, London, UK

“…The tidal River Thames (UK) is an exemplar urban catchment grossly affected by atmospheric, terrestrial and uvial transported organic compounds and heavy metals originating from multiple sources including the city of London and upstream catchment inputs. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Understanding the spatial and temporal variation of sedimentary pollution in the tidal Thames is of interest to environmental scientists, marine, estuary and river managers, waste water utilities as well as the public because: (1) individually or together the compounds and elements have been implicated to have adverse effects on human health; (2) shipping and port/ harbours activities require dredging for clear navigation and berth clearance which in turn demands sediment quality evaluations for regulatory disposal compliance; (3) accelerating global climate change effects may drive an increase in intensity and frequency of uvial and coastal ooding which mobilises buried legacy contamination and potentially transports them from river back to land; (4) the outer estuary supports about 22 sh species and hosts one the largest cockle sheries in the UK.…”

“…Sedimentary pollution in the River Thames estuary has been investigated along the entire salinity gradient ($120 km) using shallow cores and or surface grabs from intertidal foreshore and assessed for brominated ame retardants, sewage input, phosphorus and mercury. 1,4,6,7 This includes specic local conservation sites or salt marshes of the outer estuary for heavy metals (copper), organo-metals (organotins) and halogenated organic compounds. [9][10][11] Investigation of the toxic heavy metal, mercury (Hg), in foreshore samples reported mean concentrations of 2.1 mg kg À1 (n ¼ 351) with some of the highest intertidal Hg concentrations in Europe at 7 to 12 mg kg À1 occurring at 40 to 50 cm from surface within central London sections (Waterloo Bridge, Rotherhithe, Tower Bridge, Millwall, Deptford and Greenwich peninsula).…”

“…6,12,13 Consequently few studies have reported the presence of contaminants (sediment quality) or commented on their possible environmental impact above the Boroughs of Chelsea and Kensington (Syon, Mortlake, Corney Reaches) where sub-surface sampling is confounded by scouring to bedrock and anthropogenic disturbance from bridges, slipways and other engineered infrastructure. 1,6,7 Nevertheless, the upper sections of the tidal Thames contain ten ancient (Medieval) mud river islands known as Aits or Eyots which may when not disturbed retain chemical records of historic contamination.…”

Exploring variations of hexabromocyclododecane concentrations in riverine sediments along the River Medway, UK

“…The freeze-dried samples were analysed according to a recently reported method. 24 Briefly, 2g of each sample were spiked with 20 ng of the internal (surrogate) standard mixture ( 13 C-α-, β-, and γ-HBCDDs), along with 2 g of copper for sulfur removal. Samples were then extracted with hexane:acetone (3:1 v/v) using a QuEChERS based method.…”

“…Quantification was performed using Thermo Xcalibur™ 3.2 software. Further details of the analytical method and QA/QC parameters are provided elsewhere 24 and summarised in the supporting information section.…”