ABSTRACT
A wetted-wall column was used to measure partitioning of C-labelled lindane between sediment porewater and simulated sedimentary biogenic gas. The transport of sediment contaminants will depend on the rate of bubble ebullition and the partitioning of organic solutes between sediment porewater and in-place gas bubbles. Gas ebullition from sediment is mainly dependent on the rate of gas production and water depth. To better estimate the flux of sediment organic contaminants by this pathway, measurements of gas ebullition rates and porewater concentrations of contaminants should be made concurrently. Partitioning of a dissolved organic compound between porewater and a prepared gas mixture which simulated sedimentary conditions was determined. The diffusion of in-place organic pollutants into sediment gas bubbles was simulated in the laboratory using lindane and a gas mixture representing typical sedimentary conditions. Gas-to-water partition coefficients for sediment porewater were at least twice the measured coefficients for water-to-gas partitioning.
