Analytical Aspects of the Determination of the Total Concentration and Differentiation of Anthropogenic and Biogenic Hydrocarbons in Aquatic Ecosystems

Abstract

Problems of determining the total concentration of anthropogenic and biogenic hydrocarbons in aquatic ecosystems are discussed. Hydrocarbons accumulating in water samples and bottom sediments are different in composition. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, resistant to degradation, are concentrated in bottom sediments; their amount in the aquatic environment is insignificant. It is shown that the level of oil pollution can be adequately assessed only taking into account the biogenic (natural) hydrocarbon background of water and bottom sediments of the investigated objects. A unified pattern for the analysis of water and bottom sediments for assessing the level of oil contamination of aquatic ecosystems taking into account the transformation of oil components and the origin of hydrocarbons of different genesis is proposed. A possibility of the differentiation of petroleum and biogenic hydrocarbons in aquatic ecosystems by the concentration of chlorophyll in them is substantiated.