Comparison of grain size correction procedures for organic micropollutants and heavy metals in marine sediments

Four grain size correction procedures were tested for their applicability for comparing concentrations of heavy metals and organic micropollutants (PCBs, PAHs) in sediments. A simple and straightforward procedure proved best: wet sieving of fresh sediment, isolating and analysing the < 63 m grain size fraction and expressing the pollutant concentration as a proportion of the fraction's dry weight. The total analytical errors, expressed as the variation coefficient of the average concentrations, were 3.8–7.6% for heavy metals, 12–24% for PCBs and 5.3–9.9% for PAHs.