9 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Tracing the Landed Oil and its Effects on the Gulf Coast
Monday, 28 March 2011
1:30 PM - 3:50 PM
D.H. Holmes A & B
TRACING THE WEATHERING OF LANDED OIL FROM THE BP-DEEPWATER HORIZON SPILL USING ISOTOPIC TECHNIQUES
Paper number: 9-6
Program: Symposia Sessions
Time: 2:35 PM – 2:50 PM
Authors
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Arndt SchimmelmannIndiana University, Bloomington, IN
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David B. FinkelsteinUniversity of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
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Jon FongIndiana University, Bloomington, IN
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Ling GaoIndiana University, Bloomington, IN
Abstract
A time series of oil samples, washed ashore along the tidal inlet between two Louisiana barrier islands during the BP Deepwater Horizon spill at the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico, was analyzed for molecular and isotopic composition. Gas chromatography mass spectrometry provided relative abundances of specific compounds in the aliphatic, aromatic, and polar fractions of oil samples. Hydrogen and carbon isotope ratios of both oil/tar and specific compounds provide an isotopic signature of oil and its along weathering trajectories. We present initial results and compare compositional and isotopic measurements from the same oil spill affecting coastal wetlands of Barataria Bay, Louisiana.