NATURAL RECOVERY OF PAH-CONTAMINATED SEDIMENTS AT THE WYCKOFF/EAGLE HARBOR SUPERFUND SITE

摘要

Eagle Harbor is a shallow marine embayment of Bainbridge Island, WA (~10 miles west of Seattle, WA) and was formerly the site of the Wyckoff wood-treatment facility. The facility became operational in the early 1900s and contributed large quantities of creosote to the polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) contamination of harbor sediments. The site was partially capped to control PAH migration into the water column and surrounding sediments. However, residual surface sediment contamination remains. This investigation focused on the natural recovery of the PAH-contaminated sediments. TPH fingerprinting provided information on the nature and source of hydrocarbon contamination in Eagle Harbor. The distribution of the 50 PAH analytes provided insight into the sources and degree of weathering in the sediments. With decreasing sediment depth, the creosote signature showed increasing weathering and an increasing influence of an urban runoff signature. These results provided information on the ability for Eagle Harbor sediments to recover under natural conditions, to distinguish between PAH sources (i.e., between creosote contamination and urban runoff), and to identify the occurrence of creosote-derived PAH weathering in surface sediments. More extensive discussions and more conclusive evaluations will be made in an upcoming full-paper publication.