Impact of the Sediment Organic vs. Mineral Content on Distribution of the Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in Lake Sediment

Contamination of the water and sediment with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) was studied for the lake impacted by the release of PFAS-containing aqueous film forming foam (AFFF). PFAS concentrations were analyzed in lake water and sediment core samples. ΣPFAS concentrations were in the range of 95-100 ng L-1 in the lake water and 3.0-61 µg kg-1 dry weight (dw) in sediment core samples, both dominated by perfluorohexane sulfonate, perfluorooctane sulfonate; 6:2 fluortelomer sulfonate was inconsistently present in water and sediment core samples. The sediment-water partitioning coefficients (log Kd) were estimated and ranged 0.6-2.3 L kg-1 for individual perfluoroalkyl carboxylates (PFCAs) and 0.9-5.6 L kg-1 for individual perfluoroalkane sulfonates (PFSAs). The influence of the sediment inorganic content and organic matter on PFAS distribution was investigated. In studied sediments, the mineral content (corresponding to