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Sediment is a very important compartiment in the marine ecosystem. Anthropogenic compounds enter the aquatic environment
via riverine or atmospheric input. Depending on their physical and chemical properties some substances remain dissolved in the water phase whilst others bind onto particles, sink to the ground and become part of the sediment. In
this way, an accumulation of many hydrophobic (and in general strongly adsorbing compounds) takes place. Therefore sediments are assumed to represent a sink
for special kinds of pollutants. Due to resuspension processes. however, the compounds can be remobilised again, so that sediments can as well act as a source
for contaminants. In order to gain deeper insight into the accumulation of certain compounds and their metabolites, it is necessary to identify and quantify anthropogenic substances
in the sediments of ecosystems such as the North Sea.Biselli investigated in her PhD thesis several samples from the North Sea and Baltic Sea
- coastal samples as well as samples from the open sea. The focus was laid on anthropogenic substances such as the antifouling product irgarol, polycyclic musks and metabolites. Furthermore many biogenic
classes of compounds were identified. In addition to the distribution of xenobiotics in sediment samples the potential ecotoxilogical effects of these compunds on the environment are being investigated. This question is subject of the project
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