Abstract
A study was carried out to identify and to determine organic chemicals in sediment from the western basin of Lake Ontario, particularly in the fine-grained sediments near the mouth of the Niagara River. Sediment cores were obtained at five sampling stations, and samples were extracted by the base/neutral and acid method designed by US Environmental Protection Agency for extraction of water samples. The identification of organic compounds in the base/neutral sediment extract was carried out by GC/MS techniques. The major classes of investigated contaminants were aromatics, polynuclear aromatics, alkylated polynuclear aromatics, alkylated benzenes, phthalates, methyl esters of fatty acids, olefins, aldehydes, chlorobenzenes, and benzoates. In addition, all sediment samples were analysed for 2,3,7,8-tetrachloro dibenzo-p-dioxin. In the surface sediments, the abundance of contaminants decreased with the distance from the Niagara River mouth toward the north-west. However, high concentrations of most of the detected organics were present in sediment at the station located east of the River mouth.
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