I'r - Memorial University of Newfoundland

Cleveland and Bf at Buffa.lo. The latter station was kJcalcd dim;t1y in the IDOIJIb. ofthc
BuffaJo River. In addition, a few sites close to harbors aodfor small river mouths
considered as potential sources of PAH cootaminatioo were sampled. These arc stations
1012,974 . 102 1 and Wh. Immediately upon sampling. the colLected material was stored
on dry ice for transport to the laboratory.
In laboratory. the samp les were prepared for further analytical procedures in a way
that wou ld prevent compounds from deteriorating and allow for maximum extraction of
organ ic ma tter. The core samples were subsamplcd at 2 em intervals. Only top and
bottom samples were used for further analyses (see Table 3.1.1). To avoi d potential
photodegradation of PAH. the samples were dried in a darkened fumehood. The dry
sediments were furtherhomogenized using mortar and pestle 10 break clumps. wrapped in
alwninwn foil and stored at room temperature for subsequent anaJ)'$CS. AUmaterials
were solvenr-einsed priorto the procedures.
&"aclicm: The first step in the anal ysis of PAMin environmental samples is
extraction ofdie lipid portionof organic matter (Fig. 3.1.2). No standard technique exists
for this procedure. HOWC\let. Soxhlel extraction was shown to yield sufficient recovery
ofPAH pro vided appropriate solvents, sedimennscbent ratios and sample sizes are
utilized (e.g.• Farrington and Tripp, 1975; Lake et al.; 1980; Grimalt et aJ., 1984).
Therefore. this widely applied reference tec hnique was adopted in the present study. The
procedures closely followed those out lined by O 'Malley ( 1994). However, to further
increase the extraction efficiency slight modifications were introduced.
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