Assessment of polychlorinated biphenyls contamination in sediment and organism from Xiamen offshore area, China.

In Xiamen offshore area, sediment polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) concentrations ranged from 2.33 to 30.94 ng/g, with an average value of 8.94 ng/g. The in situ organic carbon normalized partition coefficients (log K'(oc)) of the 12 co-polar congeners PCBs between sediments and porewater were from 1.50 to 2.64, and the log K'(oc) decreased with increasing chlorine number. PCB congeners pattern of marine organism were characterized by 5-6 CB chlorinated compounds, and the world health organization total dioxin equivalents of PCBs in organism ranged from 1.45 to 88.26 pg/g lipid.