Varying persistence of polychlorinated biphenyls in six California soils under laboratory conditions.

Each fortified and control sample, moistened to 40~ saturation, was inoculated and kept in an enameled tray loosely covered with a glass plate to retard water evaporation, substrate volatilization, and photodecomposition. Thus, the substrates would be subject to possible microbial degradation, chemical degradation, and adsorption to soil colloids, but not losses due to leaching or soil transport. Properties of the soils used were determined by HERMANSON and RIBLE (1967) (See Table I).