1. Petroleum hydrocarbons in the coastal environment
Chris Reddy
Dept. of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA

2. Petroleum hydrocarbons
Petroleum is the biologic and geologic product of the “cooking and squeezing” of organic matter.
It is composed of many compounds that can have different chemical, physical, and biological properties.
Easiest to class as either refined or crude.

4. Boiling range °C Boiling range °F Wide-cut gas oils Residual oils
Residuum
Boiling range °C
200
600
400
800
1000
100
300
500
Straight-run
gasoline
Middle distillates
Gasoline
fractions
Home
heating
oil
Light
gas oil
Diesel
Heavy
gas
lubes
Kerosine
Jet
fuel
max
min

5. Percentage of molecular types
Boiling point °C
100
200
300
400
500
600
100
normal
alkanes 80
branched
alkanes
cycloalkanes 60
Percentage
of molecular
types 40
Percentage of molecular types
aromatics 20
napthenoaromatics
nitrogen,
sulfur, and
oxygen s 20 40 60 80
100
Gasoline
Kerosene
Diesel
Heavy
Lubricating
Residuum
fuel
gas oil
oil

7. Oil in the coastal zone
Urban runofflarge input term “leaky faucet”, mainly used crankcase oil from cars and trucks, relatively low acute toxicity, impacts urban areas.
Oil spillssmaller input, but is a dramatic event that may be from a wide range of products, toxicity can vary, pristine areas are vulnerable.
Natural oil seepslarge input for long times scales, crude oil with varying toxicity.

8. Why study the fate of oil?
Excellent opportunity to observe how ecosystems react to anthropogenic perturbations.
Use knowledge for “engineered” clean-ups.
Societal issues (human and animal health)
Oil Pollution Act of 1990

9. Historical Spills Bouchard 65 Winsor Cove October 9, 1974
41,000 to 140,000 L of diesel fuel
Florida
Wild Harbor
September 16, 1969
Spilled 700,000 L of diesel fuel

10. Florida spill: Background
On September 16, 1969, the barge Florida ran aground on rocks near West Falmouth, MA.
Over ~650,000 liters of diesel fuel spilled into the water column.
Storm winds from the southwest drove the oil into Wild Harbor.

13. Florida spill (1969) Depth (cm)
Concentration of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs)
(mg g-1 dry weight) 2 4 6 8 10 5 10 15
Depth (cm) 20 25 30
Wild Harbor
August 2000 35 40

15. Atlantic marsh fiddler crab
Uca pugnax

16. Burrowing depth
Made plaster casts of burrows in areas of Wild Harbor and Great Sippewissett to compare burrow depths of oiled and non-oiled areas.

17. Peacock et al. 2005

18. RESULTS: Burrowing depth
Oil
Non-Oil
Wild Harbor
Great Sippewissett
Mean depth (cm) ± s.e.
6.4 ± 0.6
16.2 ± 0.6
13.7 ± 3.2
T-test: shows STRONG significant difference between oiled and non-oiled burrow depths (<0.05)…P(T<=t) two-tail = E-09
Total of 25 cores.
Significant difference between oil and non-oil areas in
Wild Harbor (t-test, p < 0.001)

19. Burrow casts
Wild Harbor (oiled)
Great Sippewissett

20. Florida spill (1969) Depth (cm)
Concentration of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs)
(mg g-1 dry weight) 2 4 6 8 10 5 10 15
Depth (cm) 20 25 30
Wild Harbor
August 2000 35 40

23. Santa Barbara Oil Seeps
Releases >20,000 liters of petroleum daily.
Seepage has been occurring for thousands of years.
Sheens and tar balls along the Santa Barbara coastline are constant reminders of this natural process.
Excellent opportunity to study the fate of petroleum in the marine environment.
My group started work at this site a few months ago.

27. Seep stringer

28. Tarballs

29. Holly Platform product

30. Santa Barbara seep stringer

31. Santa Barbara beach tar

32. Santa Barbara beach tar

33. Summary
Oil can have different properties and behave differently in the environment.
Thanks to Helen White, Bob Nelson, Greg Slater, Jennifer Culbertson, Ivan Valiela, and Emily Peacock