The deepwater horizon blowout led to the release of 4.9 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico （GOM）. Here the paper analyzes available sediment datasets to determine whether changes in petrogenic cont...The deepwater horizon blowout led to the release of 4.9 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico （GOM）. Here the paper analyzes available sediment datasets to determine whether changes in petrogenic contaminants are evident in GOM sediment following the blowout. Locations sampled by EPA （Environmental Protection Agency）, British Petroleum （BP） and NOAA （National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration） were reduced and grouped into 46 similar locations and analyzed. Eleven groups suggested an increase in PAIl （polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon） and nickel, one group showed a statistically significant increase in Phenanthrene. Four locations were analyzed for time trends and differences between initial and peak concentrations of oil range organics （ORO）, diesel range organics （DRO）, vanadium and nickel. One location had significant increases in ORO, DRO and vanadium and a suggestive increase in nickel. Correlations between ORO/DRO, ORO/V, ORO/Ni, V/Ni were computed （RE= 0.85, 0.67, 0.64, 0.92, respectively）. Overall, the analyses suggest that future monitoring should employ a sampling strategy that coordinates response sampling to previously sampled locations, such that baseline datasets can be used in detection of event associated contamination.展开更多
文摘The deepwater horizon blowout led to the release of 4.9 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico （GOM）. Here the paper analyzes available sediment datasets to determine whether changes in petrogenic contaminants are evident in GOM sediment following the blowout. Locations sampled by EPA （Environmental Protection Agency）, British Petroleum （BP） and NOAA （National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration） were reduced and grouped into 46 similar locations and analyzed. Eleven groups suggested an increase in PAIl （polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon） and nickel, one group showed a statistically significant increase in Phenanthrene. Four locations were analyzed for time trends and differences between initial and peak concentrations of oil range organics （ORO）, diesel range organics （DRO）, vanadium and nickel. One location had significant increases in ORO, DRO and vanadium and a suggestive increase in nickel. Correlations between ORO/DRO, ORO/V, ORO/Ni, V/Ni were computed （RE= 0.85, 0.67, 0.64, 0.92, respectively）. Overall, the analyses suggest that future monitoring should employ a sampling strategy that coordinates response sampling to previously sampled locations, such that baseline datasets can be used in detection of event associated contamination.
