ABSTRACT
Despite the prohibition on their use as antifoulants on boats and harbour works during the last decade, concentrations of organotin compounds are very persistent in seawater and marine sediments. Hence, work on determining these substances is continuing. The sorption of tributyltin on estuarine sediments under various conditions of alkalinity has been studied by Unger et al. [1]. The resulting estimated equilibrium sorption coefcients were in general agreement with apparent sorption coefcients calculated from the concentrations of tributyltin in water and sediment at various sites in Chesapeake Bay. However, very high apparent sorption coefcients were found in areas where there was high boating activity; this could be due to the presence of tributyltin paint chips in the sediment. Sorption and desorption coef- cients were similar, indicating that sorption of tributyltin was reversible. Desorption kinetics indicated initial rapid desorption followed by desorption at a slower rate.
