Arch. Environ. Contain. Toxicol. 22, 397M-13 (1992) E Ar=hives of nvironmental contamination ml~ and | oxicology © 1992 Springer-Vedag New York Inc, Chemometric Comparisons of Polychlorinated Dibenzo-p-Dioxin and Dibenzofuran Residues in Surficial Sediments from Newark Bay, New Jersey and Other Industrialized Waterways Richard J. Wenning *'I, Mark A. Harris *'**'z, Michael J. Ungs *'+, Dennis J. Paustenbach *'+, and Hadley Bedbury ++ *ChemRisk--A McLaren/Hart Group, Stroudwater Crossing, 1685 Congress Street, Portland, Maine 04102, USA; **16755 Von Karmon Avenue, lrvine, California 92714, USA; +1135 Atlantic Avenue, Alameda, California 94501, USA, and ++Maxus Energy Corporation, 717 North Harwood Street, Dallas, Texas 75201, USA Abstract. The distributions of 2,3,7,8-substituted polychlori- nated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs) measured in surficial sediments from the lower Passaic River and Newark Bay, New Jersey were compared to those observed in sediments from other waterways located within industrial or heavily populated areas using chemometric techniques. Com- parisons were conducted using published data to determine whether the distributions of 2,3,7,8-substituted isomers in surf- icial sediments from industrialized waterways have similar or different fingerprint patterns. Chemometric evaluations con- sisted of principal components analysis and the complete link- age : farthest neighbor cluster method. The concentrations of individual isomers were normalized to the combined sum of the 2,3,7,8-substituted PCDD and PCDF isomer concentrations in order to evaluate relative distribution patterns. Several of the isomeric fingerprint patterns found in sediments from the lower Passaic River and Newark Bay were similar to those found in sediments from New Bedford Harbor, MA, USA, Black Rock Harbor, CT, USA, Providence River, RI, USA, Eagle Harbor, WA, USA, the Inner Stockholm archipelago, Sweden, Ham- burg Harbor, Germany, and St. Laurensharbor, The Nether- lands. Pattern differences were observed in sediments from Frierfjorden, Norway, Niagara River, NY, USA, and Chemie- harbor, The Netherlands. The variations among the 2,3,7,8- substituted isomer patterns observed in different sediments were largely explained by the distributions of the higher chlori- nated isomers. Other differences may be attributed to environ- mental conditions unique to each waterway such as tidal flux, shipping traffic, urbanization, sedimentation rates, and the presence of different industrial sources. Similarities in PCDD and PCDF patterns among the waterways were related to the presence of similar municipal and industrial sources, including effluents from pentachlorophenol and polychlorinated biphenyl manufacturing facilities, pulp and paper mills, automobile and shipping traffic, and municipal solid waste and industrial incin- ITo whom correspondence should be addressed. 2Current address: Maxus Energy Corp, 717 North Harwood St., Dal- las, TX 75201, USA. erators. The distributions of PCDDs and PCDFs in surficial sediments from some areas of the Newark Bay estuary were representative of those found in many industrialized regions. It wsa evident from this analysis that the application of chemo- metric analysis can be useful in characterizing the distribution of complex multi-constituent chemical residues and identifying sources of these compounds in freshwater, estuarine, and ma- rine sediments. Concern over 2,3,7,8-substituted polychlorinated dibenzo-p- dioxins (PCDDs) and, to a lesser extent, other PCDDs and dibenzofurans (PCDFs) has resulted in the characterization of the concentrations and distributions of these compounds in sediments from industrialized waterways and harbors through- out the florid (Lake et al. 1981; Petty et al. 1983; O'Keefe et al. 1984; Stalling et al. 1985a; Czuczwa and Hites 1984; Hagenmaier et al. 1986; Evers et al. 1988, 1989; Broman et al. 1989; Norwood et al. 1989; Oehme et al. 1989; Rappe et al. 1989a; Schecter et al. 1989a, 1989b; Turkstra and Pols 1989; Finley et al. 1990; Gotz et al. 1990; Kjeller et al. 1990; Reed et al. 1990; Bopp et al. 1991). The results of numerous studies indicate that these compounds are virtually ubiquitous in sedi- ments and biota at low part per trillion concentrations (USEPA 1987; Rappe et al. 1987a, 1987b; De Vault et al. 1989; Travis and Hattemer-Frey 1990). Significantly higher ambient con- centrations typically are found in waterways proximate to in- dustrial or heavily populated areas (Evers et al. 1989; Norwood et al. 1989). The persistence of these compounds is not surpris- ing in light of their very long environmental half-life (Yanders et al. 1990) and rapidly expanding number of sources (Ree et al. 1988). Several studies indicate that PCDDs and PCDFs are widely distributed in soil and air particulate from industrialized and heavily populated environments (Hutzinger et al. 1985; Buchert and Ballschmiter 1986; Rappe et al. 1987a, 1987b, 1988; Tieman et al. 1989; Creaser et al. 1990; Smith et al. 1990; Kjeller et al. 1991). The migration of these compounds to freshwater, estuarine, and marine sediments has been the