Study of trace elements, natural organic matter and selected environmental toxicants in soil at Mitrahalvøya, to establish bias correction for studies of long-range atmospheric transported pollutants in Ny-Ålesund

The Arctic archipelago Svalbard is an important receptor for long-range atmospheric transported contaminants. However, local emission sources exist as well, but have been only documented in few studies. Accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) along with gas chromatography (GC) coupled to single quadrupole mass spectromety (MS) has been widely used for the extraction and quantification of PAHs and PCBs in solid environmental matrices, but with the drawbacks in previous methods of e.g. distinct GC separation protocols for PAHs and PCBs, demanding more time and cost for analysis. In this study, surface soil samples were collected in the vicinity of Ny-Ålesund and on two locations remote from the settlement: Kiærstranda and Mitrahalvøya and analyzed for elements As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, P, Pb and Zn, PAH and PCB content as well as total carbon (TC), total nitrogen (TN), biologically labile total organic carbon (TOC400), residual oxidizable carbon (ROC), total inorganic carbon (TIC900). The aim of this study was to to develop an ASE-GC-single quadrupole-MS method for the simultaneous extraction, cleanup, detection and quantification of PAHs and PCBs in Arctic surface soils. With this methodology, current data on the concentration of PAHs and PCBs in Artic soil was reported and related to the profile of inorganic contaminants measured in the Arctic soil to (1) identify possible contamination sources of PAHs, PCBs and trace elements and to (2) examine spatial variations of contaminant concentrations in different areas of the Arctic. Analysis of elements revealed more than 10-fold higher concentrations of Cd in Kiærstranda (4.15-4.49 μg g−1) than the other study areas (0.10-0.51 μg g−1). Together with significantly higher TN and P levels at Kiærstranda, these findings suggest a transfer of Cd by seabirds from the marine food web to terrestrial environments as a potential source. Other elements did not show statistically significant spatial variation. Mean As, Cr, Cu and Ni levels in surface soils from this study were higher than reported values in surface soils from Norway. Different sources may have contributed to found levels in surface soils, such as the local bedrock. The developed method for the simultaneous extraction, cleanup, separation and quantification of PAHs and PCBs proved to be successful with recoveries between 80-106%, precision with RSD < 15% and limits of detection (LOD) between 0.67-6.67 ng g−1 for PAH and PCB target analytes. The developed method was