Occurrence of Halogenated Organic Pollutants in Hadal Trenches of the Western Pacific Ocean

The hadal trenches are the most remote and inaccessible habitats on earth and were once believed to be pristine. A recent study has reported the detection of high levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), in endemic amphipods from two hadal trenches (Mariana and Kermadec) in the Western Pacific, implicating that the trenches are indeed polluted. However, a fundamental question remains unanswered, if and to what extent such the physical environment of the trenches is polluted by POPs. In this study, we sampled Mariana, Mussau, and New Britain trenches and analyzed samples of amphipods, sediment, and suspended particulate matter (SPM). Our results show that the amphipods contained elevated levels of PCBs and PBDEs, comparable to those reported in the earlier study. We also detected significantly high concentrations (up to 1343 ng g–1 lw) of chlorinated pesticides, such as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes and chlordanes. Furthermore, four brominated natural products (BNPs), which structurally resembled methoxylated brominated diphenyl ethers or polybrominated biphenyls, were identified in the endemic amphipods. However, neither POPs nor BNPs were detected in sediments or SPM. Taken together, we propose that the POPs detected in endemic amphipods likely resulted from bioaccumulation by feeding on polluted large detritus (e.g., carrion) falling to the trench bottoms from the surface ocean.