Historical emissions of octachlorodibenzodioxin in a watershed in Queensland, Australia: estimation from field data and an environmental fate model
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
Standard
In: The Science of The Total Environment, Vol. 502, 01.01.2015, p. 680-687.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
Harvard
APA
Vancouver
Bibtex
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
T1 - Historical emissions of octachlorodibenzodioxin in a watershed in Queensland, Australia
T2 - estimation from field data and an environmental fate model
AU - Camenzuli, Louise
AU - Scheringer, Martin
AU - Gaus, Caroline
AU - Grant, Sharon
AU - Zennegg, Markus
AU - Hungerbühler, Konrad
PY - 2015/1/1
Y1 - 2015/1/1
N2 - An octachlorodibenzodioxin (OCDD)-dominated contamination is present along the coast of Queensland, Australia. Several findings indicate that this contamination originates from pesticide use, although due to limited information on OCDD levels in the pesticides used, estimating past and current emissions of OCDD solely from pesticide use data is unfeasible. We used all the qualitative and quantitative information available on OCDD in pesticides together with a previously validated chemical fate model for a catchment in the Queensland Wet Tropics to back-calculate the emissions of OCDD from measured soil concentrations. We estimate that under different emission scenarios an average of 2,500 kg of OCDD was emitted within the modelled 1,685 km2 (Tully river) catchment between 1950 and 2010. Because this catchment represents only approximately 0.85% of the whole coast of Queensland under a similar contamination, the total amount of OCDD released in this region is considerably larger. For all emission scenarios, we could show that the OCDD currently present in agricultural soil is a result of historical emissions, and current-day emissions are less important in comparison to past emissions. Overall 18% was lost by degradation and 62% was buried below the agricultural surface soil, as a result of facilitated transport.
AB - An octachlorodibenzodioxin (OCDD)-dominated contamination is present along the coast of Queensland, Australia. Several findings indicate that this contamination originates from pesticide use, although due to limited information on OCDD levels in the pesticides used, estimating past and current emissions of OCDD solely from pesticide use data is unfeasible. We used all the qualitative and quantitative information available on OCDD in pesticides together with a previously validated chemical fate model for a catchment in the Queensland Wet Tropics to back-calculate the emissions of OCDD from measured soil concentrations. We estimate that under different emission scenarios an average of 2,500 kg of OCDD was emitted within the modelled 1,685 km2 (Tully river) catchment between 1950 and 2010. Because this catchment represents only approximately 0.85% of the whole coast of Queensland under a similar contamination, the total amount of OCDD released in this region is considerably larger. For all emission scenarios, we could show that the OCDD currently present in agricultural soil is a result of historical emissions, and current-day emissions are less important in comparison to past emissions. Overall 18% was lost by degradation and 62% was buried below the agricultural surface soil, as a result of facilitated transport.
KW - Ecosystems Research
KW - Environmental Monitoring
KW - Environmental Pollution
KW - Environmental Pollutants
KW - Pesticides
KW - Models, Chemical
KW - Queensland
KW - Soil
KW - Soil Pollutants
KW - Tetrachlorodibenzodioxin
KW - Water Pollutants, Chemical
KW - Chemistry
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.09.049
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.09.049
M3 - Journal articles
C2 - 25310828
VL - 502
SP - 680
EP - 687
JO - The Science of The Total Environment
JF - The Science of The Total Environment
SN - 0048-9697
ER -