Time trends of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in sediment cores from the pearl river estuary, south china

The present study provides information on the time trend of PBDEs inthree sediment cores from the Pearl RiverEstuary (PRE), South China, using Pb-210 dating technique. The Sigma PBDEs (except for BDE 209) concentrations in all sediment cores increased gradually from the bottom (mid-1970s) to the middle layer (later 1980s and early 1990s) followed bydifferenttemporal trends in different locations to the surface sediments, reflecting the variations in the consumption of commercial penta-BDEs mixture in different regions of the Pearl River Delta. The BDE 209 concentrations remained constant until 1990 and thereafter increased exponentially to the present, with doubling times of 2.6 +/- 0.5-6.4 +/- 1.6 years, suggesting the increasing market demands for decaBDE mixture after 1990 in China. The inventories of 1PBDEs and BDE 209 in sediments of the PRE were 56.0 and 368.2 ng CM-2, respectively, and the total burden of PBDEs in the PRE were estimated at 8.6 metric tons. The current 1PBDEs and BDE 209 fluxes to the PRE were 2.1 and 29.7 Ing CM-2 yr(-1), respectively. The concurrent increase of BDE 209 fluxes and the annual gross industrial output values of electronics manufacturing revealed that the rapid growth of electronics manufacturing in this region since the early 1990s was responsible for the sharp rise of BDE 209 fluxes in the past decade. The PBDE congener compositions of the cores indicated the various input pathways for PBDEs transport to different locations of the estuary.