Concentrations of persistent organochlorine compounds in spruce needles from Western Finland

Persistent organochlorine compounds in spruce needles from Western Finland, altogether 60 samples, were analyzed by GC/ECD and GC/MS. The distribution of α-HCH, lindane and hexachlorobenzene in the spruce needles was found to be uniform all over the area investigated. The concentrations of α-HCH were higher than the concentrations of lindane. In the PCB profiles, PCB-153 and PCB-138 dominated in all samples, the concentration of PCB-153 being remarkably higher than that of PCB-138. As a rule, the needles from the year 1991 contained these compounds in larger amounts than the needles from the year 1992. TeCDFs, PeCDFs, HexaCDFs, TeCDDs and PeCDDs in very low (pg/g) concentrations were detected in the pooled samples. The concentrations of the PCDFs were higher than the concentrations of PCDDs. The effect of the tree age on the concentrations of organochlorine compounds was riot observed.