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 that coastal and lacustrine 
environments, especially the benthic ecosystems, have been exposed to 
increased PAH concentrations over the past several decades. Whether 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, though, 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 1(P 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 Bight dump site surface sediments indicates that these hydrocarbons 
are primarily of pyrolytic origin (13). The fossil fuel hydrocarbons most likely 
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 
