ACTA CHROMATOGRAPHICA, NO. 17, 2006 SPE AND GC–MS INVESTIGATION OF ORGANIC CONTAMINANTS IN ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATION M. J. Fabiańska * , U. Skręt, and W. E. Krawczyk Department of Earth Science, University of Silesia, Będzińska Street 60, 41-200 Sosno- wiec, Poland SUMMARY The seasonal and regional variability of organic contaminants in atmospheric precipitation has been investigated in the Sosnowiec region (Upper Silesia, southern Poland) for a twelve-month period during 2002 and 2003. Contaminants were isolated by solid-phase extraction (SPE) and analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) to compare the chemical composition of organic contamination and the se- mi-quantitative content of selected compound groups. During the heating season, the dominating source of pollution is coal combusted in the region. Characteristics of organic contamination in precipitation sampled after the heating season indicate they are related to traffic emission. Regional diffe- rences between organic pollutant content suggest that the low emitters, for example individual house fires, are important source of organic contami- nation in the Upper Silesia agglomeration. INTRODUCTION In the natural environment precipitation is important in scavenging gaseous constituents from the air and dissolving fine particles suspended in the air and transporting all the material to the earth’s surface [1–4]. Little is known, however, about how this process participates in the systems in which organic compounds migrate to soil, and to surface and ground water. The rapid development of civilization has been responsible for introducing into the environment many synthetic chemicals which pollute air, water, and soil [5–10]. The objective of this investigation was to compare seasonal changes in both quantitative content and chemical composition of the organic pol- lutants in precipitation (rain and snow) in the Sosnowiec region. It was - 328 -