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Abstract: Members of the INTERSED network initiated several efforts to coordinate management activities, information, priorities and approaches in research and technological development (RTD) with respect to sediments at a national level in Spain. The present work summarizes the results of a database search (1995–2005) carried out within the INTERSED framework; we found 250 international and national publications of Spanish groups related to the study of sediments located in the Spanish coast and river basins using different approaches. The results show the statistics of RTD groups involved, the main objectives of the publications, the types of sediment and their location, and the analytical method and parameters. We describe the state of the art on the field of research in sediments at the national level in Spain over a period of 10 years. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The latest version (1999) of the BCR-sequential extraction technique was used to determine the distribution of metals (Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, Fe, Ni, Cr, and Mn) with major sedimentary phases (acid-soluble, reducible, oxidisable and residual) in samples from the southwest coast of Spain. The total metal content was also determined. The results showed that an extensive area along the coast (35 km long), near the joint mouth of the Tinto and Odiel Rivers, contains sediments with high concentrations of metals, with maximums of 649 mg/kg of Zn, 336 mg/kg of Cu, 197 mg/kg of Pb and 2.5 mg/kg of Cd. The values found for Cr, Ni and Mn are comparable to those in unpolluted areas. Based on the chemical distribution of metals, we found that Zn is the most mobile (i.e., it can pass easily into the water under changing environmental conditions). This metal showed the highest percentages in the acid-soluble fraction (the most labile), especially in the central coastal area, where the samples contained over 50% of this element associated with this fraction. This area close to the Tinto and Odiel river mouths also shows a significant increase in the mobility of Cd and Cu. In both cases the amount present in the residual fraction is lower, and the acid-soluble fraction is increased for Cd and the oxidisable fraction for Cu. However, the highest percentages of Fe, Cr and Ni are found in the residual fraction (84%, 89% and 75%, respectively), which implies that these metals are strongly bound to the sediments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A method based on selective pressurized liquid extraction (SPLE) followed by gas chromatography–negative ion chemical ionization-mass spectrometry (GC–NCI-MS) has been evaluated for analysis of decabromodiphenyl ether (PBDE-209) in sediment samples. Instrumental operating conditions such as source temperature and system pressure were optimized in the NCI-MS system, giving an instrumental detection limit of 2 pg. The limit of determination of the entire SPLE–GC–NCI-MS procedure was around 50 pg g-1 dry weight (dw), with repeatability of replicates between 4 and 21% relative standard deviation. Application of the method to 13 different river and marine sediment samples collected in Spain revealed that levels of decabromodiphenyl ether ranged between 2 and 132 ng g-1 dry weight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]