WECC Wania Environmental Chemists Corp., 280 Simcoe Street, Suite 404, M5T 2Y5, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 1999;6(1):11-9. doi: 10.1007/BF02987114.
In general, contamination levels tend to be highest close to sources of a chemical and decline with increasing distance as a result of dilution, dispersion and degradation. However, contrary to this, circumstances have been described when contamination levels are higher further away from sources than at the sources themselves. Examples are elevated levels of persistent, hydrophobic, organic chemicals in the Arctic, in mountain regions and in forest soils. In order to address the questions of why and when such an inversion of environmental levels is occurring, this paper seeks to identify, name and categorise principles of general validity leading to such behaviour. By compiling and analysing various causes of elevated contamination levels in the environment, three main categories became apparent, 1. equilibrium partitioning effects, 2. effects resulting from changes in phase composition, volume or temperature, and 3. dynamic or kinetic effects. These principles are illustrated with several examples. The case can be made that understanding, quantifying and predicting these causes could provide a general conceptual framework for studying the fate of chemicals in the environment.
一般来说，污染物的水平往往在靠近化学物质源的地方最高，并随着距离的增加而降低，原因是稀释、分散和降解。然而，与这一情况相反，已经描述了在远离污染源的地方，污染水平比在污染源本身更高的情况。例如，在北极、山区和森林土壤中，持久性、疏水性有机化学物质的水平升高就是这种情况。为了解决为什么以及何时会出现这种环境水平倒置的问题，本文试图确定、命名和分类导致这种行为的具有普遍有效性的原则。通过对环境中污染物水平升高的各种原因进行编译和分析，出现了三个主要类别，1. 平衡分配效应，2. 由于相组成、体积或温度变化而产生的效应，以及 3. 动态或动力学效应。这些原则用几个例子来说明。可以说，理解、量化和预测这些原因可以为研究化学物质在环境中的命运提供一个通用的概念框架。
