Sorption and desorption characteristics of chlordane onto sediments

Abstract

The sorption and desorption of chlordane onto size‐fractionated sediment and the effect of sediment organic matter on the sorption and desorption characteristics of chlordane have been investigated. The correlation coefficients describing the sorption as a linear function of sediment organic carbon content are high, indicating that the organic matter content plays an important factor in the sorption of chlordane to sediments. A comparison of log Kp for the well‐defined sediment types indicates that the sorption of trans‐ and cis‐chlordane, though significant, is mostly independent of sediment particle size. The slope of the curves describing the sorption on different particle size sediments were statistically significant indicating that a subtle adsorption difference among particle sizes exists. As in the case of sorption onto well‐defined sediments, the slope of the curves were statistically different from zero, indicating that particle size differences have some effect on the desorption of chlordane. A positive correlation of Kp's and Kd's for each sediment exists. The differences among corresponding Kp's and Kd's are less than the experimental error in most cases, indicating no significant differences between the two parameters.

Key words:

• Chlordane
• Sediment
• Sorption
• Desorption