Buzzards Bay, have recently been completed (12). These analyses, also by 

 GC-MF, greatly extend the earlier analyses for the Buzzards Bay station, and 

 establish that polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) from a combustion 

 source increase by at least an order of magnitude in sediment deposited after 

 about 1850. Another recent paper (14), has reported a detailed study of PAH 

 in a core from Lake Constance in the Federal Republic of Germany. The 

 surface sediments of this core contained increases of PAH concentration of 50 

 to 100 times that of sediments deposited circa 1800. The PAH composition 

 again indicated a pyrolytic source. 



The implications of these findings are tliat coastal and lacustrine 

 environments, especially the benthic ecosystems, have been exposed to 

 increased PAH concentrations over the past several decades. Wliether or not 

 this chronic long-term increase in PAH concentration reflects a substantial 

 environmental risk is not known, and a detailed discussion is beyond the scope 

 of this paper. It is important, thougli, to consider that many of the PAHs are 

 known to have adverse effects on marine organisms (13). The benthic 

 ecosystems may have been "stressed" by PAH pollution for some time. This is 

 an important point to keep in mind when considering control stations for 

 studying oil spills in coastal areas. For example, the control stations for the 

 studies of the effects of the West Falmouth oil spill on subtidal benthos were 

 not very far from the two stations, P and D, we have sampled in Buzzards Bay. 

 Does this mean that these stations are truly "normal" with respect to the 

 effects of aromatic hydrocarbons, or have they also been subtly, chronically 

 affected by the increasing amounts of PAH deposited from direct and 

 remobilized urban air PAH? 



New York Bight Surface Sediments 



We have estimated the rate of fossil fuel hydrocarbons discharged by 

 dumping in the New York Bight is about 3.6 x 10-^ tons/year (9), or about 2% 

 of the estimated global discharge of 180 x 10^ tons per year of petroleum 

 hydrocarbons from routine operations and spills associated with outer 

 continental shelf drilling and production (3). The composition of PAH in the 

 New York Biglit dump site surface sediments indicates that these hydrocarbons 

 are primarily of pyrolytic origin (13). The fossil fuel hydrocarbons most Hkely 

 are from urban air fallout, and are swept into storm sewers and municipal 

 sewers by rain water, and are either discharged to New York harbor or become 

 associated with the sewage sludge in the treatment plants. Dredge spoils from 

 the harbor and sewage sludge are then dumped in the New York Bight resulting 

 in delivery of PAH and other pollutants to the continental shelf area. Since 

 there are other dump sites off the East coast of the U.S., the input of 

 petroleum hydrocarbons from this source must be larger than in the New York 

 Bight alone. Thus, significant and measurable quantities of contaminant 



75 



