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Origin of hydrocarbons in the particulate matter and bottom sediments of the northern shelf of the Caspian Sea

  • Marine Chemistry
  • Published:
Oceanology Aims and scope

Abstract

Data are presented on the content and composition of hydrocarbons (HC) (aliphatic, AHC and polyaromatic, PAH) in the filtered particulate matter and in the surface layer of the bottom sediments on the northern shelf of the Caspian Sea and related to the data on their content in the Volga River estuary. Because of the transformation and precipitation of anthropogenic and natural compounds, the HC composition in the particulate matter and bottom sediments undergoes transformations caused by the mixing of fresh and saline waters (in the bottom sediments, within the concentration ranges 70.4–4557.9 μ g/g for AHC and 3.8–4800 ng/g for PAH). It was found that the greatest concentrating of HC proceeds in the region of the avalanche sedimentation, and their content is independent of the grain-size type of the sediments. The anthropogenic HC (oil and pyrogenous) do not get over the marginal filter of the Volga River and do not pass to the open part of the sea.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    I. A. Nemirovskaya

  2. Institute for Water Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    V. F. Brekhovskikh

Authors
  1. I. A. Nemirovskaya
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  2. V. F. Brekhovskikh
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Correspondence to I. A. Nemirovskaya.

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Original Russian Text © I.A. Nemirovskaya, V.F. Brekhovskikh, 2008, published in Okeanologiya, 2008, Vol. 48, No. 1, pp. 48–58.

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Nemirovskaya, I.A., Brekhovskikh, V.F. Origin of hydrocarbons in the particulate matter and bottom sediments of the northern shelf of the Caspian Sea. Oceanology 48, 43–53 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001437008010062

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001437008010062

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