Transfer of organic contaminants to the Baltic in the Odra Estuary

This paper describes the transfer of organic contaminants to the sea, using PAHs (12 compounds) and PCBs (11 congeners) as examples, through a eutrophicated coastal lagoon (Szczecin Lagoon, on the Polish–German border). The transfer of contaminants study was based on their concentration in recent sediments (0–10 cm), in relation to different environmental conditions such as temperature, salinity, turbidity, oxygen and nutrients in water, hydrological conditions, organic carbon and biomarkers (pigments and their derivatives) in sediments. Results include the data obtained between 1994 and 2000, also those on before and afterwards the great flood in July 1997, at different stations in the Lagoon and the adjacent Pomeranian Bay. The results indicated that the eutrophic estuary of the shape of lagoon acts as an effective trap for the hydrophobic organic pollutants. The abundance and taxonomy of plankton as well as detritus derived from it play an important role in bonding the studied compounds. The salinity gradient in the lagoon has a significant influence upon deposition of the pollutants from the water column to the sediments and the residence time of the compounds there depends strongly on oxic–anoxic status of the sediments and the strength of interaction with sediments resulting from polarity, the type and stability of associates formed, as well as on hydrological conditions. We conclude that eutrophication in this area prevents pollution of the sea to some extent.