Contamination of Limpets (Patella vulgata) Following the Sea Empress Oil Spill

摘要

Following the grounding of thc Sea Empress oil tanker at the entrance to Milford Haven, UK, in February l997, samples of limpets (Pateho vuhota) were collected from local coastal sites (after 2 weeks and 4 and 7 months) and analysed for oil contamination. Initially, relatively high concentrations of volatile two and three ring aromatic hydrocarbons (up to 86 mu g g~-l dry weight) were found which decreased by orders of magnitude between surveys. These results are compared with a similar study of the Braer oil spill which show a similar rapid decrease in concentrations of volatile hydrocarbons while loss of heavier compo- nents is slower. An assessment of thc non-volatile fingerprint sterane hydrocarbons showed limpet samples to be contaminated with hydrocarbons but was inconclusive about the source of those hydro- carbons. Another common fingerprint, the pristane- :phytane ratio was investigated but this was found to be masked by the presence of natural biogenic compounds.