Presence of bisphenol S and surfactants in the sediments of Kongsfjorden: a negative impact of human activities in Arctic?

Abstract

Pollution and fate of pollutants in polar region are important topics of investigation in the last several decades. We have analysed sediment samples from Kongsfjorden and Krossfjorden, two sites from Arctic region, and detected a number of emerging contaminants (ECs) using high-resolution mass spectrometry connected to UPLC (LC-Q-ToF-MS). Out of the seven sampling sites selected, bisphenol S (BPS), an identified pollutant and plasticiser, was detected and quantified in three sediment samples from Kongsfjorden (≈ 0.2 ppm). Four major surfactants (decylbenzenesulphonic acid, undecylbenzenesulphonic acid, 2-dodecylbenzenesulphonic acid and tridecylbenzenesulphonic acid) were also identified. A possible metabolite of BPS (sulphur trioxide derivative of BPS) was identified in one of the samples. It is proposed that the presence of ECs is the result of human activities in the region for a long time. To the best our knowledge, this is the first report on the identification of BPS and surfactants in the Arctic region.

Keywords: Arctic pollution; Bisphenol S; Emerging contaminants; LC-Q-ToF-MS; Limit of detection; Limit of quantification.