Looking at Organic Pollutants (OPs) Signatures in Littoral Sediments to Assess the Influence of a Local Urban Source at the Whole Lake Scale

Abstract

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are organic pollutants (OPs) that can originate from both the watershed (i.e. local sources) and long-range emissions. Even when local sources are identified, the propagation of OPs in aquatic systems remains poorly known. The southern part of Lake Bourget (France) is known to be impacted by PAHs and PCBs from local urban sources and surficial sediments exhibit OP concentrations higher than in the North. However, little is known about the propagation of this pollution within the lake. We propose a dual approach to assess the propagation of 13 PAHs and 7 PCBs in 10 littoral sites. The first method quantifies the similarities between the OP profiles of the sites and that of a local urban signature used as a reference of the southern watershed, and the second method is based on concentration ratios. The two independent methods provided convergent results and supported a south–north gradient of the OPs propagation. Southern sediments exhibited the highest OP contents, similarities in profiles with the local signatures, and abundance of heavy molecular weight congeners. PAH contents and profiles seemed to be more variable than for the PCBs. Changes in the littoral OP profiles with tributary distance illustrated the spread from tributary outlets that may act as contamination pathways. Two littoral sites did not match this north–south gradient for PAH contamination, indicating another potential point sources. These results furthermore underline the relevance of focusing on the littoral zone in the prospect of assessing propagation of pollution within a lake.