WEATHERED PETROLEUM “BIOAVAILABILITY” TO INTERTIDAL BIVALVES AFTER THE T/V EXXON VALDEZ INCIDENT

摘要

Sediment and bivalve samples were collected annually to assess residual oil concentration, degradation and persistence after the T/V EXXON VALDEZ incident through NOAA’s Prince William Sound Shoreline Monitoring Program. Detailed gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS) analyses of samples from various sites still contain residual oil. The residual oil from the 1989 spill shows a similar though altered aromatic hydrocarbon (AH) profile in the bivalve body burden. The residual oil profile of bivalves and sediments contain components not highly water soluble, therefore mechanisms other than dissolution are the primary mode of petroleum transport. The presence of altered whole oil within the mussel and clam tissues provides inferences into the oil transport and exposure mechanisms.