The effect of long-range atmospheric transport of organochlorine compounds by soil studies from Mongolia to the Arctic

Abstract

The results of studies on the distribution regularities are presented for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) of different degrees of chlorination and for organochlorine pesticides (OCPs): hexachlorobenzene (HCB), hexachlorocyclohexane (HCCH), and DDT with its metabolites in the soils along the Lena River valley and in background areas of Eastern Siberia and Mongolia. A statistically reliable correlation is found between the PCB–OCP and C_org concentrations. The highest levels of HCB are registered in the soils between 50 and 60° N. The concentrations of αand γ-HCCH increase reliably, while those of pp′-DDT and pp′-DDE decrease from south to north. A trend of the decrease in concentrations from Mongolia to the Laptev Sea is revealed for tri-, tetra-, and penta-chlorine-substituted PCB congeners. However, the soils sampled northwards from 60° N show a reliable increase in the concentrations of tetra-, penta-, and hexachlorine-substituted congeners.