REPORTS Trace Contaminant Concentrations in the Kara Sea and its Adjacent Rivers, Russia JOSE L. SERICANO *, JAMES M. BROOKS  ,1 , MICHAEL A. CHAMP  ,2 , MAHLON C. KENNICUTT II and VYACHESLAV V. MAKEYEVà  Geochemical and Environmental Research Group, Texas A&M University, 833 Graham Road, College Station, TX 77845, USA àResearch Institute for Nature Conservation of the Arctic and North RINCAN), St. Petersburg, Russian Federation Trace organic chlorinated pesticides, PCBs, PAHs and dioxins/furans) and trace metal concentrations were measured in sur®cial sediment and biological tissues i.e., worms, crustaceans, bivalve molluscs, and ®sh livers) collected from the Russian Arctic. Total DDT, chlordane, PCB and PAH concentrations ranged from ND to 1.2, ND to <0.1, ND to 1.5 and <20±810 ng g 1 , respectively, in a suite of 40 sur®cial sediment samples from the Kara Sea and the adjacent Ob and Yenisey Rivers. High sedi- mentary concentrations of contaminants were found in the lower part of the Yenisey River below the salt wedge. Total dioxins/furans were analysed in a subset of 20 sediment samples and ranged from 1.4 to 410 pg g 1 . The highest trace organic contaminant concentrations were found in organisms, particularly ®sh livers. Concentra- tions as high as 89 ng g 1 chlordane; 1010 ng g 1 total DDTs; 460 ng g 1 total PCBs; and 1110 ng g 1 total PAH, were detected. A subset of 11 tissue samples was analysed for dioxins and furans with total concentrations ranging from 12 to 61 pg g 1 . Concentrations of many trace organic and metal contaminants in the Kara Sea appear to originate from riverine sources and atmospheric transport from more temperate areas. Most organic con- taminant concentrations in sediments were low; however, contaminants are being concentrated in organisms and may pose a health hazard for inhabitants of coastal vil- lages. Ó 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction Until recently, the sparsely populated Arctic regions were thought to be pristine since they are far removed from industrial and agricultural contaminant sources in lower latitudes. During the cold war, much of the ac- tivities in the Arctic regions were secret or not apparent to the larger environmental community. This situation changed in 1992 with the release of information from the Former Soviet Union FSU) indicating dumping of numerous nuclear reactors and waste materials in the shallow Arctic seas. In the past three years, scientists from the FSU have released information on the degree of contamination in the northern regions of Russia, particularly the Arctic region that was heretofore un- available. Independent of these reports, a series of in- ternational and US news releases and articles identi®ed large quantities of unregulated, and previously secret, nuclear and industrial hazardous and toxic waste dis- posal activities in the Russian Arctic region. The mas- sive 1994/1995 oil spill in the Pechora River watershed is yet another example of contamination of the Russian Arctic. During the 1960s±1980s, the Soviet Union relegated its most toxic and hazardous industries to the vast barren and unpopulated polar regions. In many cases, highly toxic industrial wastes were dumped on the fro- zen soil and permafrost with no consideration of the release and movement of these materials during the warmer months. Over 100 billion metric tons of mixed industrial wastes have been dumped or disposed of in the northern and Arctic regions of Russia in crude land ®ll facilities or directly into rivers. These materials were dumped in such a manner that they may be transported to the Arctic Ocean. As a result, persistent organic contaminants, trace metals, radionuclides, estrogenic Marine Pollution Bulletin Vol. 42, No. 11, pp. 1017±1030, 2001 Ó 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved Printed in Great Britain 0025-326X/01 $ - see front matter PII: S0025-326X00)00236-8 *Corresponding author. E-mail address: jose@gerg.tamu.edu J.L. Sericano). 1 Present address: TDI-Brooks Int'l Inc. 1902 Pinon Dr., College station, TX 77845, U.S.A. 2 Present address: ATRP Corporation, PO Box 2439, 7000 Vagabond Drive, Falls Church, VA 22042. 1017