Sequestration of Organic Contaminants by Soils and Sediments: A Scientific Basis for Establishing Risk-based Alernative Cleanup Endpoints

摘要

A scientifically based method for quantification of the sequestration of hydrophobic organic contaminants by soils and sediments is described. The method uses molecular analysis and nuclear magnetic resonance measurements to characterize the organic matrices of soils and sediments, an dhten relate degree of contaminant sequestration of different types of soils and sediments to their respective oxygen-to-carbon (O/C) atomic ratios. The findings suggest that it may be possible to quantify sequestration from information obtained from simple measurements of O/C ratios; i.e., to estimate the amount of contaminant that can be irreversibly sequestered, or "taken out of environmental circulation", by a soil or sediment.