Composition and Concentration of Hydrocarbons of Bottom Sediments in the CHPP-3 Diesel-Fuel Spill Zone at AO NTEC (Norilsk, Arctic Siberia)

This work contains an analysis of the total content of petroleum products (hydrocarbons) in samples and columns of bottom sediments (BS) of the Noril’skaya–Pyasino group of water objects contaminated as a result of a diesel fuel spill from the CHPP-3 reservoir at AO NTEC near Norilsk. Two methods—fluorimetry and gas chromatography—have been used for analysis. Gas chromatography is also used to obtain the distribution of n -alkanes in extracts from BS and study the contribution of hydrocarbons (HCs) of diesel fuel and of slightly mature organic matter from modern sediments in the total content of HCs. The HC composition of diesel fuel and of chloroform extracts from BS is determined. It is shown that the pollution of BS in Lake Pyasino with HCs is insignificant when compared with their background content, and the maximal pollution is revealed for BS in the Ambarnaya River.