Patterns and sources of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans found in soil and sediment samples in Southern Mississippi

Abstract

Using hierarchical cluster analysis and Principal Component Analysis (PCA), sediment and soil samples from the State of Mississippi were compared with the effluents of a pulp mill, a potential point source. Additionally, data of many known sources of PCDD/PCDF from the scientific literature were evaluated. Both methods were able to distinguish between different matrices with known PCDD/PCDF contamination (e.g. PCP, PCB, kraft pulp mill effluents). In some instances, a specific PCDD/PCDF source could be correlated to an environmental sample, e.g. the pattern of a U.S. brand of pentachlorophenate was found in sediment samples. None of the mathematical and statistical techniques could identify the pulp mill as the source of the PCDD/PCDF in the sediments and soils in the floodplain.