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. 1991 Jan;90:69–73. doi: 10.1289/ehp.90-1519484

Concentrations of organic contaminants in mollusks and sediments at NOAA National Status and Trend sites in the coastal and estuarine United States.

T P O'Connor 1
PMCID: PMC1519484  PMID: 1904811

Abstract

Mean concentrations of PAHs, PCBs, and DDT in mollusks and sediments at sites in the National Status and Trends Program (NST) are distributed in log-normal fashion. The dry weight-based chlorinated organic concentrations in mollusks generally exceed those in nearby sediments by an order of magnitude. PAHs are found at similar concentrations in sediments and mollusks. Highest concentrations of PCBs and DDT in mollusks are in the ranges of 1000 to 4000 ng/g (dry) and 400 to 1000 ng/g (dry), respectively. The highest PAH concentrations in sediments are in the 10,000 to 50,000 ng/g (dry) range. While higher concentrations of contaminants can be found by sampling localized hot spots, the NST data represent the distribution of concentrations over general areas of the coastal United States.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Varanasi U., Stein J. E., Nishimoto M., Reichert W. L., Collier T. K. Chemical carcinogenesis in feral fish: uptake, activation, and detoxication of organic xenobiotics. Environ Health Perspect. 1987 Apr;71:155–170. doi: 10.1289/ehp.8771155. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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