Environmental Management Program, Environment and Life Sciences Center, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, P.O. Box 24885, Safat 13109, Kuwait.
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 45 Carleton Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
Sci Total Environ. 2014 Sep 1;491-492:148-53. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.12.122. Epub 2014 Jan 18.
Surficial sediment samples were obtained from 25 locations within Kuwait Bay and outside the Bay, in the Northwestern Arabian Gulf, to access recent pollution in Kuwait. The historical deposition of PBDEs to this portion of the Arabian Gulf was reconstructed by collecting a sediment core at the entrance of Kuwait Bay. The mean (and range) in concentrations of ∑11PBDEs in surficial sediments was 0.164±0.09 (0.06-0.44) pg/g dw. The concentrations measured in Kuwait Bay were generally higher than those measured in the open Gulf. When the concentrations were normalized to organic carbon, the average ∑11PBDEs concentrations measured in Kuwait Bay were seven times higher than average concentrations outside the Bay. The historical record, reconstructed from a sediment core collected at the entrance of Kuwait Bay, showed that Σ11PBDE concentrations were generally low in deeper sediment sections. The concentrations started to increase above background in the mid-1950s and increased sharply to a maximum Σ11PBDE concentration of ca 1,100 pg/g in the late 1980s. Concentrations decreased thereafter until another pulse in concentrations was observed around the early 2000 followed by a decrease in subsequent years. It is likely that the initial pulse in concentration recorded in sediments is related to inputs from the Gulf war of 1991. The penta congeners were observed throughout the length of the core although the concentrations were low. The congeners present in the Deca-PBDE technical mixture, particularly BDE 209 which is the main congener in the Deca-BDE mixture, occurred in sediment cores around the 1980s, and the concentrations increased rapidly thereafter being the most dominant congener since their first detection in sediments. The presence of nona-BDE congeners in proportions exceeding those in commercial mixtures may be suggestive of debromination of BDE 209 in sediments.
从科威特湾内和湾外的 25 个地点采集了表层沉积物样品，以了解科威特近期的污染情况。通过在科威特湾入口处采集一个沉积物岩芯，重建了历史上 PBDE 对阿拉伯湾这一部分的沉积。在表层沉积物中，∑11PBDE 的浓度平均值（范围）为 0.164±0.09（0.06-0.44）pg/gdw。科威特湾内的浓度通常高于开阔海湾内的浓度。当浓度按有机碳归一化时，科威特湾内测量的平均∑11PBDE 浓度是湾外平均浓度的七倍。从科威特湾入口处采集的沉积物岩芯重建的历史记录显示，Σ11PBDE 浓度在较深的沉积物部分通常较低。浓度从 20 世纪 50 年代中期开始超过背景值，并在 20 世纪 80 年代后期急剧增加到最高 Σ11PBDE 浓度约 1100pg/g。此后，浓度下降，直到 21 世纪初再次出现浓度高峰，随后几年浓度再次下降。记录的沉积物中浓度的初始脉冲很可能与 1991 年海湾战争的输入有关。五溴同系物在整个岩芯长度上都有观察到，尽管浓度较低。十溴二苯醚技术混合物中存在的同系物，特别是十溴二苯醚混合物中的主要同系物 BDE 209，出现在 20 世纪 80 年代左右的沉积物岩芯中，此后浓度迅速增加，自首次在沉积物中检测到以来一直是最主要的同系物。非溴代二苯醚同系物的比例超过商业混合物中的比例，可能表明 BDE 209 在沉积物中的脱溴作用。
