Occurrence of organochlorine pesticides in the environmental matrices from King George Island, west Antarctica

•Twenty-three OCPs were investigated in various matrices from Antarctica by HRGC/HRMS.•OCPs concentrations were at quite low levels in soils, sediments, mosses and lichens.•HCB and p,p′-DDE were dominant contributors of the total OCPs concentration.•Higher OCPs levels were found in the dropping-amended soil than natural soil.•The sources of HCHs, DDTs and chlordane compounds (CHLs) were discussed.

Antarctica is considered as a final sink of many persistent organic pollutants (POPs). This work aims to investigate the levels, distributions and potential sources of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) with HRGC/HRMS technique. Twenty-three OCPs were measured in various environmental matrices from King George Island, west Antarctica. The total concentrations (Σ23OCPs) were at quite low levels, ranging 93.6-1260 pg g−1 dry weight (dw) in soil and sediment, 223-1053 pg g−1 dw in moss and 373-812 pg g−1 dw in lichen. Hexachlorobenzene (HCB), dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) and its metabolites (especially p,p′-DDE) and hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) were the main contaminants in all samples. Lower α-HCH/γ-HCH and higher p,p′-DDE/p,p′-DDT ratios compared with the technical products indicated long-range atmospheric transport (LRAT) of recent lindane and aged technical DDT. Significant dependence of many OCPs concentrations on total organic carbon (TOC) was observed. Apart from LRAT, local biotic activities could also contribute and influence the spatial distribution of the contaminants.

Graphical abstractMap of King George Island, west Antarctica and Σ23OCPs levels based on TOC (pg g−1 TOC) vs. dry weight (pg g−1 dw) in the soil and sediment samples.Download full-size image