dispersants as used in response to the mc252-spill lead to higher mobility of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in oil-contaminated gulf of mexico sand分散剂,用于应对mc252-spill导致更高的流动性的多环芳烃在受到石油污染的墨西哥湾的沙子.pdfVIP

Dispersants as Used in Response to the MC252-Spill Lead to Higher Mobility of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Oil-Contaminated Gulf of Mexico Sand 1¤ 2 Alissa Zuijdgeest , Markus Huettel * 1 Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands, 2 Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, United States of America Abstract After the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, large volumes of crude oil were washed onto and embedded in the sandy beaches and sublittoral sands of the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Some of this oil was mechanically or chemically dispersed before reaching the shore. With a set of laboratory-column experiments we show that the addition of chemical dispersants (Corexit 9500A) increases the mobility of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in saturated permeable sediments by up to two orders of magnitude. Distribution and concentrations of PAHs, measured in the solid phase and effluent water of the columns using GC/MS, revealed that the mobility of the PAHs depended on their hydrophobicity and was species specific also in the presence of dispersant. Deepest penetration was observed for acenaphthylene and phenanthrene. Flushing of the columns with seawater after percolation of the oiled water resulted in enhanced movement by remobilization of retained PAHs. An in-situ benthic chamber experiment demonstrated that aromatic hydrocarbons are transported into permeable sublittoral sediment, emphasizing the relevance of our laboratory column experiments in natural settings. We conclude that the addition of dispersants permits crude oil components to penetrate faster and deeper into permeable saturated sands, where anaerobic conditi