The 1974 spill of the Bouchard 65 oil barge: Petroleum hydrocarbons persist in Winsor Cove salt marsh sediments

Petroleum hydrocarbons persist in salt marsh sediments in Winsor Cove (Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts) impacted from the 1974 spill of No. 2 fuel oil by the barge Bouchard 65. Intertidal sediment cores were collected from 2001 to 2005 and analyzed for total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs). TPHs content w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine pollution bulletin 2007-02, Vol.54 (2), p.214-225
Main Authors: Peacock, Emily E., Hampson, George R., Nelson, Robert K., Xu, Li, Frysinger, Glenn S., Gaines, Richard B., Farrington, John W., Tripp, Bruce W., Reddy, Christopher M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Biological and physicochemical properties of pollutants. Interaction in the soil
Bouchard 65
Brackish
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics
Environmental Monitoring
Exact sciences and technology
GC × GC
Geography
Geologic Sediments - analysis
Marine
Massachusetts
No. 2 fuel oil
Petroleum
Petroleum hydrocarbons
Pollution
Pollution, environment geology
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons - analysis
Salt marsh
Sediments
Soil and sediments pollution
Time Factors
Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis
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Summary:Petroleum hydrocarbons persist in salt marsh sediments in Winsor Cove (Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts) impacted from the 1974 spill of No. 2 fuel oil by the barge Bouchard 65. Intertidal sediment cores were collected from 2001 to 2005 and analyzed for total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs). TPHs content was greatest (as high as 8.7 mg g −1 dry weight) in the surface sediments and decreased with distance landward. Select samples were analyzed for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with values as high as 16.7 μg g −1 for total naphthalenes and phenanthrenes/anthracenes. These remaining PAHs are mainly C 4-naphthalenes and C 1-, C 2-, and C 3-phenanthrenes/anthracenes revealing preferential loss of almost all of the naphthalenes and the parent compound phenanthrene. Inspection of the data indicates that biodegradation, water-washing and evaporation were major removal processes for many of the petroleum hydrocarbons in the marsh sediments. In addition, historical data and photographs combined with their recent counterparts indicate that erosion has physically removed these contaminants from this site.
ISSN:0025-326X
1879-3363
DOI:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2006.10.007