Fate of Spilled Oil in the Gulf of Mexico and the Canadian Arctic

Abstract

Understanding how spilled oil biodegrades and weathers is important for oil spill remediation. The conditions of the environment in which the spilled oil was deposited is one of the most important controls of the remediation processes of oil. In this study two different oil contaminated environments were investigated. First, 112 seafloor samples were examined from northern Gulf of Mexico to evaluate deposition of oil contaminants and thus, long-term effects following the Deepwater Horizon spill. The second study included beach sediments from the Baffin Island Oil Spill (1980; Canadian Arctic). Apart from the extreme environmental differences, the residence time of the deposited oil is also different, with the GoM sediments being collected up to 4 years after the spill, whereas the Arctic site was sampled 39 years after being contaminated. Despite the shorter remediation time the GoM oil is more altered than the oil from the intertidal zone of the Arctic.