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Contamination of the deep-sea

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Karlheinz Ballschmiter at Ulm University
Karlheinz Ballschmiter
O. Froescheis
O. Froescheis
O. Froescheis
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W. M. Jarman
W. M. Jarman
W. M. Jarman
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G. Caillet
G. Caillet
G. Caillet
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~ Pergamon
PII: S0025--326X(96)0009ff-2
Contamination of the Deep-Sea
Marine Pollution Bulletin,
Vol. 34, No. 5, pp. 288-289, 1997
© 1997 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd
All rights reserved. Printed in Great Britain
0025~326X/97 $17.00+0.00
K. H. BALLSCHMITER*, O. FROESCHEIS*, W. M. JARMANt and G. CAILLET:~
*Universitdt Ulm, Analytische Chemie, Postfach 4066, D-7900 Ulm, Germany
t University of California, Institute of Marine Sciences, Earth and Marine Science Bldg, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA
~Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, POB 450, Moss Landing, CA 95039, USA
The deep-sea is not as clean as one supposes; it may
even turn out to be the ultimate waste basket for a large
group of persistent semivolatile contaminants (e.g.
persistent congeners of the PCBs, the polychlorinated
diphenyl ethers, the persistent organochlorine pesti-
cides, and DDT and related compounds). The deep-sea
floor, due to its inaccessibility to man, is often
considered as an appropriate place for waste tailings
from mines as it has recently been argued by Ellis and
Ellis (1994) in their Viewpoint. As pointed out by Theil
(1995) in his Correspondence, this viewpoint may hold
for geological aspects, it surely does not for biology and
environmental chemistry.
Except for the case of chemosynthetic organisms, the
biota of the abyss have relied on the input of organic
carbon pre-synthesized by photosynthesis from the
oceans surface since the beginning of life; starting with
the soil bacteria and ending with fish of the rattail
family (Jumars and Gallagher, 1982). The general
aspects of organic carbon flow to the bottom of the
sea whether as the carcass of a dead whale, the faecal
pellets of the fish and shrimps, or as the colloidal matter
called the marine snow have been studied in the past
(Bruland and Silver, 1981; Silver and Bruland, 1981;
Rowe, 1983; Alldredge and Silver, 1988; Theil, 1995).
A more recent addition to this carbon flow to the
bottom includes the final environmental fate of
persistent organic molecules that are semivolatile and
practically water insoluble. Their physical and chemical
properties require, under the aspect of a long-term
multiphase distribution, that they will end up in an
environmental compartment avoiding the water phase.
For this reason persistent organic compounds exhibit
the phenomenon of bio- and geoaccumulation (Ball-
schmiter, 1992); thus, these compounds will move with
any particulates or organic matter from the ocean
surface to the ocean floor. Now their persistence comes
into play. As unmetabolizable organics they will be
recycled in the biophase of the abyss.
One may draw an analogy to the final fate of
persistent volatiles such as freon. Gaseous freon rises
into the atmosphere and catalyses the destruction of
stratospheric ozone, which filters out cancer-causing
ultraviolet radiation from the sun (Manahan, 1990).
Our atmosphere provides the ultimate sink for
persistent halogenated compounds, like freon, due to
their volatility. It is therefore safe to assume that
semivolatile compounds like PCBs, have an ultimate
sink as well. Terrestrially, our soils provide this
environmental fate, while in the global oceanic system,
the sea floor and its living inhabitants provide OCs their
final resting ground.
Reality follows this predicted scheme as first
analytical results of the enrichment of persistent
organics in the deep-sea biota indicate. We have
analysed surface and deep-sea fish of the eastern
North Atlantic and found an enrichment up to a
factor of about 600 for the DDT group for the deep-sea
specimen (Table 1) relative to surface living species. It is
a result of the compressing of the content of persistent
compounds in the water column and their selective
fractionation into the biological lipids of organisms
living on or near the sea floor. Preliminary results of
specimens collected from the Monterey Bay Submarine
Canyon indicate a similar pattern. Van Dover et al.
(1992) found evidence of sewage derived organic matter
from ocean dumping off the coast of New Jersey in
deep-sea invertebrates and fish by examining stable
isotope ratios in their tissues. Stegeman et al. (1986)
reported elevated monooxygenase induction (enzymes
that catalyze transformation of foreign compounds)
TABLE l
Organochlorine contaminants in the livers of fish collected from the
North Atlantic. Concentration reported as mg kg-1 lipid.
Madeira
Parrot fish Black scabbard
Coastal Deep-sea
HCB 2 17
~~-PCB* 110 5800
~-DDT** 15 9200
~"~-Chlordane*** 8 520
Adapted from Kr/imer
et al.
(1984).
*~-~;PCB=Sum of PCBs 28, 52, 101, 138, 153, and 180.
**~~-DDT=Sum of p,p'-DDT, p,p'-DDE, p,p'-DDD, and p,p'-
DDMU.
***~"~-Chlordane=Sum of heptachlor,
cis-chlordane, trans-chlor-
dane,
trans-nonachlor
and oxychlordane.
288
... In contrast, Calonectris shearwaters breeding in Azores and Madeira showed the lowest mean δ 13 C signatures, since they feed on pelagic waters that are far away from any coastal systems (42). Thus, unexpected shearwater DDT profiles from Cape Verde and Canary Is. colonies are probably related to their feeding habits over the African shelf, since Sub-Saharan countries still use DDT to control malaria outbreaks (43). ...
... Dietary differences between petrels and shearwaters are probably associated with their OC levels and profiles. Previous studies in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans have reported higher burdens of OCs in mesopelagic and deep sea fishes compared to those from the upper water layers (40)(41)(42)(43). Specifically, studies on Pacific mesopelagic fishes have revealed significantly greater burdens of organic pollutants in some daily vertical migrant and semi-migrant myctophid species in comparison to other mesopelagic fishes (44). ...
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... However, in the TT livers, the relative abundances of this metabolite covered two orders of magnitude so evidencing a more variable behavior for this compound in this species. p,p'-DDMU has been identified in other organisms from remote and deep-sea areas (Ballschmiter et al., 1997;Unger et al., 2008), as well as in benthic organisms from the Bosnian Sea, where this compound showed levels above those of o,p'-DDE, o,p'-DDT and p,p'-DDD (Strandberg et al., 2000). However, as far as we know, no previous information regarding its presence in the two grenadier species evaluated in the present study was available in the specialized literature. ...
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... Chemicals from anthropogenic sources tend to harm the ocean and human health [192]. The increase of human activities around and in the ocean, including oil and gas exploitation, deep-sea mining operations, fishing, coastal tourism and shipping contribute largely to the accumulation of toxic chemicals in marine ecosystems such as heavy metals [193], persistent organic chemicals (POC) [194] and radioactive elements [195,196]. In many coastal areas around the world, the concentrations of toxic chemicals are extremely high. ...
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... The PCB congener profiles or homologue compositions in environmental matrices can provide valuable information regarding the sources, transport, and fate of PCBs (Barakat et al., 2013a;Gao et al., 2013). Moreover, as marine sediments might be an important sink for PCBs (Ballschmiter et al., 1997;Savinov et al., 2003), using data from different latitudinal marine sediments might enable us to better understand the distribution characteristics and environmental fate of PCBs. ...
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A total of 23 sediment samples are collected from Ross Sea and Drake Passage to investigate the distribution characteristics of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the Antarctic marine sediments. Over 51 kinds of PCBs are detected through exhaustive searches using multiple reaction monitoring system. The results show that the concentration of individual PCB congener and total PCBs vary greatly among sampling sites, ranging from not detected to 49.75 ng g⁻¹ and 3.77 to 246.86 ng g⁻¹, respectively. The average PCBs level in Ross Sea is ten times higher than that in Drake Passage. Two different homologues, hexa- and tetra-CBs, give high contributions to ∑PCBs level in most samples from Ross Sea and Drake Passage, respectively. Our results support that the marine sediments might be an important sink for PCBs. Besides, the biological pump and the primary productivity might be responsible for the distribution differences of PCBs between Ross Sea and Drake Passage.
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Transport and Fate of Organic Compounds in the Global Environment
Article
Full-text available
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The role of chemistry in our global industrial society also requires a global perspective for the discussion of the uptake, transport, and conversion of chemical compounds in the environment. The fate of organic compounds in the volume flow of the atmosphere and hydrosphere can be categorized into transport pathways and adjustments of equilibria in the multiphase system atmosphere-oceans-land surface. The global volume flow in the atmosphere (wind, areas of high and low pressure) and in the hydrosphere (rivers, circulation of water in lakes, ocean currents) alone would account for the transport of organic compounds if they were stable and if all these compounds were molecularly distributed in these phases. However, this particular case is observed only for volatile chlorofluorocarbons and tetrachloromethane. For most organic compounds, complex adsorption/desorption processes on finely dispersed particle phases in the air and water as well as abiotic and biotic transformations determine the transport behavior.
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ChemInform Abstract: Transport and Fate of Organic Compounds in the Global Environment
Article
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The role of chemistry in our soon-to-be global industrial society requires a global perspective for the discussion of the uptake, transport, and conversion of chemical compounds in the environment. The fate of organic compounds in the volume flow of the atmosphere and hydrosphere can be categorized into transport pathways and adjustments of equilibria in the multiphase system atmosphere-oceans-land surface. The global volume flow in the atmosphere (wind, areas of high and low pressure) and in the hydrosphere (rivers, circulation of water in lakes, ocean currents) alone would account for the transport of organic compounds if they were stable and if all these compounds were molecularly distributed in these phases. However, this particular case is observed only for volatile chlorofluorocarbons and tetrachloromethane. For most organic compounds, complex adsorption/desorption processes on finely dispersed particle phases in the air and water as well as abiotic and biotic transformations determine the transport behavior.The global fate of a compound includes its accumulation as well as its decomposition in defined environmental compartments. Both phenomenon may have long-term consequences in the af-fected areas; this is indicated by the accumulation of polychlorobiphenyls and analogous compounds in marine mammals and deep-sea fauna, and is evident in the decomposition of chlorofluorocarbons in the stratosphere. The accepted definition of the level of a risk, the product of the probability of an event and the potential amount of damage, takes on a new dimension when viewed from a global perspective-especially when one further connects the extent of the damage to the possible means of correction. It is the responsibility of scientists to point out the irreparable regional to global consequences directly and indirectly connected to the production of chemicals and to provide suggestions for prevention. Politicians can only react by applying their methods to limit the damage; however, they cannot generate any solutions based on science.
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Ocean cleaning and marine snow
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Very deep STD
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Alldredge AL, Silver MW.. Characteristics, dynamics and significance of marine snow. Prog Oceanogr 20: 41-82
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  • Jan 1988
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Macroscopic aggregates of detritus, living organisms and inorganic matter known as marine snow, have significance in the ocean both as unique, partially isolated microenvironments and as transport agents: much of surface-derived matter in the ocean fluxes to the ocean interior and the sea floor as marine snow. As microhabitats, marine snow aggregates contain enriched microbial communities and chemical gradients within which processes of photosynthesis, decomposition, and nutrient regeneration occur at highly elevated levels. Microbial communities associated with marine snow undergo complex successional changes on time scales of hours to days which significantly alter the chemical and biological properties of the particles. Marine snow can be produced either de novo by living plants and animals especially as mucus feeding webs of zooplankton, or by the biologically-enhanced physical aggregation of smaller particles. By the latter pathway, microaggregates, phytoplankton, fecal pellets, organic debris and clay-mineral particles collide by differential settlement or physical shear and adhere by the action of various, biologically-generated, organic compounds. Diatom flocculation is a poorly understood source of marine snow of potential global significance. Rates of snow production and breakdown are not known but are critical to predicting flux and to understanding biological community structure and transformations of matter and energy in the water column. The greatest challenge to the study of marine snow at present is the development of appropriate technology to measure abundances and characteristics of aggregates in situ.
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Stable isotope evidence for entry of sewage-derived organic material into a deep-sea food web
Article
  • Nov 1992
CHRONIC pollution of the open ocean has occurred since 1986 through disposal of municipal sewage sludge at a deep-water (~2,500 m) dumpsite off the coast of New Jersey. Dispersal and dilution of sewage particulates in surface waters were presumed to be sufficient to prevent or minimize accumulation of detectable amounts of sewage-derived material on the sea floor. Using stable isotope ratios of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur as tracers of sewage-derived organic material, we show here that this material reaches the sea floor and enters the benthic food web, specifically through surface-deposit feeding activities of the urchin, Echinus affinus and the sea cucumber, Benthodytes sanguinolenta.
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Metals and organic contaminants in Northwest Atlantic deep-sea tilefish tissues
Article
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Data are presented on trace metal and organic hydrocarbon (PCBs, PAHs, and chlorinated pesticides) concentrations in muscle, liver, gonad, and other tissues from two small 1981–1982 collections of tilefish (Lopholatilus chamaeleonticeps): from near Lydonia Canyon (on Georges Bank) and below Hudson Canyon (off New Jersey). Significant concentrations of trace metals and chlorinated hydrocarbons (PCBs and pesticides) were detected in the tissues, but these were generally within the ranges reported for other deep-sea and continental shelf fish in the Middle Atlantic Bight. Higher chlorinated hydrocarbon concentrations were detected in fish from the Lydonia Canyon area, compared with concentrations detected in the fish from below the Hudson Canyon. The difference appears to be statistically significant for most compounds and no satisfactory explanation can be suggested.
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