Seasonal changes in organotin compounds in water and sediment samples from the semi-closed Port of Gdynia Barbara Radke a, d, ⁎ , 1 , Andrzej Wasik b, 2 , Linda L. Jewell c, 3 , Stuart Piketh d, 1 , Urszula Pączek a, 4 , Agnieszka Gałuszka e, 5 , Jacek Namieśnik b, 2 a Department of Marine Geology, Institute of Oceanography, University of Gdańsk, Al. Marszałka Piłsudskiego 46, 81-378 Gdynia, Poland b Department of Analytical Chemistry, Chemical Faculty, Gdańsk University of Technology, 11/12 G. Narutowicza St., 80-952 Gdańsk, Poland c School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, South Africa d Climatology Research Group, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, South Africa e Geochemistry and the Environment Div., Institute of Chemistry, Jan Kochanowski University, 15 G Świętokrzyska St., 25-406 Kielce, Poland HIGHLIGHTS ► The seasonal changes of organotin compounds (OTC) in samples were investigated. ► The mechanisms of accumulation and degradation of OTC in the sediments were studied. ► We examine the influences of the bio- genic substances on the changes of OTC. ► Higher concentrations of OTC for water and sediment samples were obtained for winter. ► The biogenic substances are not sig- nificant affecting the changes of OTC in area port. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT abstract article info Article history: Received 13 February 2012 Received in revised form 12 June 2012 Accepted 6 September 2012 Available online 4 November 2012 Keywords: Sediments Water The effect of seasonal changes on the distribution of organotin compounds (OTC) in the sediments and sea- water from the docks of the Port of Gdynia was investigated. Sediment and seawater samples were collected from four industrial docks in February (winter) and June (summer) in 2009. The samples were analyzed for butyltin, phenyltin, octyltin, and tricyclohexyltin (total of 9 OTC derivatives). The fine fraction (b 0.063 mm) accumulated the highest concentration of OTC, although it was not the dominant fraction in the sediment samples from the Port of Gdynia. The average concentration of TBT, DBT and MBT in collected samples were as follows: 4400; 2188; 730 ng cation g -1 d.w. (February) 3638; 1590; 474 ng cation g -1 d.w. (June) in the fine sediment samples, 2805; 1266; 485 ng cation g -1 d.w. (February) in b 2.00 mm sediment Science of the Total Environment 441 (2012) 57–66 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Department of Marine Geology, Institute of Oceanography, University of Gdańsk, Al. Marszałka Piłsudskiego 46, 81-378 Gdynia, Poland. Tel.: +48 58 523 66; fax: +48 58 523 68 18. E-mail addresses: ocebr@ug.gda.pl (B. Radke), chemanal@pg.gda.pl (A. Wasik), linda.jewell@wits.ac.za (L.L. Jewell), stuart.piketh@wits.ac.za (S. Piketh), Agnieszka.Galuszka@ujk.edu.pl (A. Gałuszka), chemanal@pg.gda.pl (J. Namieśnik). 1 Tel.: +27 11 717 6536; fax: +27 11 717 6535. 2 Tel.: +48 58 347 21 10; fax: +48 58 347 26 94. 3 Tel.: +27 11 717 7507; fax: +27 11 717 7591. 4 Tel.: +48 58 523 66 81; fax: +48 58 523 68 18. 5 Tel.: +48 41 349 70 26; fax: +48 41 349 70 62. 0048-9697/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.09.006 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Science of the Total Environment journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv