Insights into the Profile of Atmospherically Deposited PFAS: PFAS in Wet Deposition and a Seepage Lake Sediment Core

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a large family of persistent contaminants with diverse and poorly characterized sources. Our understanding of their environmental cycling is improving, but is still quite limited, and the presence of PFAS in environmental media (e.g., sediments, surface water, ice) from remote areas emphasizes the significant gaps in our understanding of the sources, fate, and transport of PFAS. In particular, the importance of atmospheric transport and transformation of PFAS as a pathway into surface hydrologic systems is poorly understood. To investigate the magnitude and profile (fingerprint) of PFAS characteristic of atmospheric deposition, wet deposition (rain and snow) samples were collected from a suite of National Atmospheric Deposition - National Trends Network (NADP-NTN) precipitation monitoring sites around the upper Great Lakes, and analyzed for 37 target PFAS. To further investigate the role of atmospheric deposition as a source of PFAS to terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, in the Great Lakes region, a sediment core from Loaine lake - a remote Minnesota lake with primarily atmospheric inputs - was age dated and analyzed for target PFAS. This presentation will share initial results from the wet deposition samples and seepage lake sediment core. These preliminary data sets are just one component of a larger effort to constrain PFAS wet-deposition across the Great Lakes.

Primary Presenter: Samantha McClung, University of Minnesota Duluth (mcclu348@d.umn.edu)

Authors:

Samantha McClung, University of Minnesota Duluth – Water Resources Science Graduate Program  (mcclu358@d.umn.edu)

Bridget Ulrich, University of Minnesota Duluth, Natural Resources Research Institute  (ulrichb@d.umn.edu)

Martin Shafer, Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene, University of Wisconsin-Madison  (mmshafer@wisc.edu)

Timothy Griffis, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Department of Soil, Water, and Climate  (tgriffis@umn.edu)

Euan Reavie, University of Minnesota Duluth Natural Resources Research Institute  (ereavie@d.umn.edu)

Tiffany Sprague, University of Minnesota Duluth Natural Resources Research Institute  (tsprague@d.umn.edu)

Alexander Frie, University of Minnesota Sea Grant Program  (afrie@umn.edu)