OCCURRENCE OF PERSITENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS IN TSUNAMI SEDIMENT LEFT FROM THE GREAT EAST JAPAN EARTHQUAKE

講演予稿
Takigami, H.; Oguchi, M.; Asari, M.; Yoshioka, T.; Osako, M.; Sakai, S. (2012) Organohalogen Compounds, 74: 320-323

Introduction
The Great East Japan Earthquake disaster and its resultant tsunami occurring in March, 2011 left huge amounts of sand and muddy matter (tsunami sediment) on the Pacific coast of the Tohoku district. The amount of sediments generated in six prefectures devastated by tsunami (i.e., Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Chiba) was estimated to be approximately 13 million to 28 million tons1. Although its main component is seawater flotsam from coastal seas, its properties and composition are diverse, including debris of homes and other structures destroyed by tsunami, petroleum products, and other chemical materials and products. Hazardous compounds such as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) (e.g., dioxins, PCBs, and POPs pesticides) from establishments located in stricken areas might be incorporated into sediments, which is of our concerns. From early times since March after the earthquake, we collected surface sediment samples in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures and conducted chemical characterization in terms of general properties and POPs by analytical approach.

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