The recognition of biodegraded petroleum-derived aromatic hydrocarbons in recent marine sediments |
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| Authors: | DM Jones AG Douglas RJ Parkes J Taylor W Giger C Schaffner |
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| Institution: | 1. Organic Geochemistry Unit, Department of Geology, Drummond Building, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK;2. Scottish Marine Biological Association, Dunstaffnage Marine Research Laboratory, P.O. Box 3, Oban, Argyll, PA34 4AD, UK;3. Swiss Federal Institute for Water Resources and Water Pollution Control (EAWAG), CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland |
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| Abstract: | Aromatic hydrocarbon fractions isolated from sediments polluted with crude oil, from sampling stations in and around Sullom Voe, Shetland Islands, were found to exhibit, as the major feature in their gas chromatograms, an unresolved complex mixture or ‘hump’. This feature was absent from the gas chromatograms of the aromatic hydrocarbon fractions isolated from corresponding unpolluted sediments in the region. The observed aromatic hump had little resemblance to the distribution of aromatic hydrocarbons in a typical North Sea crude oil. Incubation studies, however, showed that such a hump was appearing when oil-spiked sediments were aerobically biodegraded. From these incubation studies it was also evident that alkylaromatic hydrocarbons in the crude oil were biodegraded before any change in the normal alkanes was apparent. Therefore, the presence of an unresolved complex mixture in the gas chromatograms of aromatic hydrocarbon fractions from recent sediments can act as a marker to recognize contamination by crude oil. |
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