184
Appendix 6.6.8) Concentrations of chlorpyrifos-methyl were below the LOD in all
sediment samples from the German Bight and western Baltic Sea.
Chlorpyrifos-ethyl was found at concentrations from < 10 to 33 ng/kg dw with a median
of 9 ng/kg dw. About 43 % of the determinations were < LOD. This rendered the
interpretation of data more difficult.
The geographical distribution of the insecticide in the North Sea and Baltic Sea is
shown in Figure 37. In the German Bight, the substance was determined only at stations
characterised by higher silt levels and TOC values above 3 mg/g. Remarkably, values as
low as 5 to 14 ng/kg dw were even found at KS 11, the station which normally has the
highest contamination level. The limited amount of data does not, however, allow a
statistically valid interpretation of the geographical distribution in terms of spatial
gradients or input structures.
Concentrations in the western Baltic Sea were even lower than in the German Bight.
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
56
55
54
ng/kg dw
-40
-20
- 0
53
53
4
5 6 7 8 9 10
11
12
13
14
15
Figure 37 : Chlorpyrifos-ethyl concentrations [ng/kg] in surface sediments (0-2 cm)
The estimated “enrichment” of chlorpyrifos-ethyl in sediment as compared to the water
phase is less than 1000. This means that sediment is not a major sink for this compound
and will not be a good monitoring matrix.