Determination of soil pollution derived from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in Bursa: spatial and temporal variations

The soil is a natural reservoir and a transporter component of the terrestrial ecosystem for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The determination of PCBs is important to identify the necessary precautious steps to be taken. The objective of this study is to determine seasonal and regional PCB variations in the soil in Bursa-Turkey. In this context, soil samples were collected from 19 different points during summer and winter seasons and analyzed by gas chromatography-electron capture detector (GC-ECD) for S 82 PCB. The regional variation of S 82 PCB concentrations was 0.03-85 ng/g dry matter (DM). The highest S 82 PCB concentration was measured sampling points near the iron-steel plant in both seasons. At all sampling points, S 82 PCB concentrations were higher in winter than those in summer. In general, high-chlorinated homologes groups (>6-CBs) in summer and low-chlorinated homologes groups (5-CBs) and TOC, while no significant correlation was observed between the light species (