Assessing the transport of PAH in the surficial sediment layer by passive sampler approach.

A new method based on passive samplers has been developed to assess the diffusive flux of fluorene, fluoranthene and pyrene in the sediment bed and across the sediment-water interface. The dissolved compound concentration gradient in the sediment in the vertical direction was measured at the outlet of a storm water pond by using polyethylene strips as passive samplers. Simultaneously, the dissipation of a set of tracer compounds preloaded in the passive samplers was measured to estimate the effective diffusion coefficients of the pollutants in the sediment.