Sedimentary records of non-Aroclor and Aroclor PCB mixtures in the Great Lakes

Abstract

Three sediment cores from Lake Ontario, Lake Erie and Indiana Harbor Ship Canal were collected, segmented and analyzed for Aroclor and non-Aroclor polychlorinated biphenyl congeners (PCBs). PCBs associated with the commercially produced Aroclor mixtures 1248 and 1254 dominate the sediment signal and the sum of all congeners (∑ PCB) peaks in concentration and accumulation around 1970 in the Great Lakes. This trend is very similar to Aroclor production history. In the Indiana Harbor Ship Canal, PCBs appear around 1935 and remain at very high levels between 1940 and 1980, probably reflecting the history of use at the nearby steel mill. In contrast, the non-Aroclor PCBs in the Lake Ontario and IHSC sediment cores, including PCB11 and heavily chlorinated congeners PCB206, 207, 208 and 209 reach a peak in the 1950s, decline and peak again in the 1970s or in the early 1980s. All five congeners have been previously measured in commercial paint pigment. PCB11 was found to peak about 5 years later than ∑ PCBs, and is probably associated with the production or use history of diarylide yellow pigments. The temporal distribution profiles of these non-Aroclor PCBs are well correlated with the production history of paint pigments and dyes. Although it is well known that the production of Aroclor PCBs is preserved in Great Lakes sediments, this study is the first to show that production of non-Aroclors are also preserved in the sediments as a record of long term trends in environmental exposure.