ABSTRACT
The transfer processes of pollutants in the watercolumn of the sea depend on a great number of properties of these substances. When dissolved, the substances are diluted in the sea water, but when in particulate form and having a specific gravity higher than sea water, they will be precipitated to the seafloor. Both in the deep sea and in shallow coastal waters, the bottom sediments can accumulate many of the known pollutants of domestic, agricultural, and industrial origin. In the seafloor three media can be distinguished by which transfer processes can occur: pore water, sedimentary particles, and living organisms. Sea-bottom sediments usually have a pore-water content in the range of 10 to 80% volume per volume depending on the packing of the sedimentary particles. Many of the chemicals in the sediment will become associated with the inorganic and organic sediment particles to a considerable degree the inclusion of sorption-distribution terms in diagenetic models necessary.
