Organotin pollutants in emerging coastal-marine sediments of the Kaliningrad shelf, Baltic Sea

Based on two years of monitoring of modern bottom sediments of two sections of the Kaliningrad shelf of the Baltic Sea – “Curonian Spit” and “Northern Sambian” – an assessment of the sources of pollution with organotin compounds (OTs) and heavy metals was carried out. The content of individual organotin compounds and OTCs spectra obtained by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry of relatively coarse-grained bottom sediments indicate the presence of organotins in significant quantities – the total OTs content (ΣOTs) is from 0.6 to 8.3 ng/g. However, the content of tributyltin (TBT), the main component of anti-fouling systems for marine vessels and the most dangerous endocrine-disrupting compound among the hazardous substances for marine ecosystems, is at a low level (0-2.3 ng/g) in all studied samples and has not increased over the two-year observation period (biodegradation index 1.7-12.4). At the same time, the presence of abnormally high concentrations of mono-, triphenyl- and tricyclohexyltin in the sediments of the ”Northern Sambian” site (up to 30, 7 and 6.4 ng/g, respectively) indicates an additional source of pollution of coastal waters and shelf sediments (for example, plastic litter and agricultural runoff). The absence of significant shipping in the study areas ensures a consistently low level of pollution with tributyltin and its derivatives (less than 0.3 and 2.3 ng/g of TBT in 2017 and less than 0.1 and 1.3 ng/g in 2018 for the sites “Curonian Spit” and “Northern Sambian”, respectively), which indicates the activity of the processes of TBT transformation and self-cleaning of sandy sediments. However, the identified trends and their predictive accuracy require long-term observation and monitoring of the sediment environment using data on the deep-water part of the shelf, enriched in clay and humus components.