title: Analysis of bacterial diversity and metals in produced water, seawater and sediments from an offshore oil and gas production platform.
abstract: Produced water is one of the largest waste products routinely discharged into the ocean from offshore oil and gas platforms. This study analyzed bacterial communities and metals in the produced water, surrounding seawater, and sediment around the Thebaud platform. The bacterial community within the produced water was different from the seawater (SAB=13.3), but the discharge had no detectable effect on the bacterial communities in the seawater (SAB>97). In contrast, genomic analysis of sediments revealed that the bacterial community from 250 m was different (SAB=70) from other locations further from the discharge, suggesting that the produced water had a detectable effect on the bacterial community in the sediment closest to the discharge. These near-field sediments contained elevated concentrations of manganese and iron that are associated with the produced water effluent. The results suggested that the discharge of produced water has influenced the bacterial community structure of sediments adjacent to the platform.
authors.affiliation: National Research Council Canada, Biotechnology Research Institute, 6100 Royalmount Ave. Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: C William
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Yeung
authors.forename: Brent A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Law
authors.forename: Tim G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Milligan
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Lyle G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Whyte
authors.forename: Charles W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Greer
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D044822:Biodiversity; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D019652:Extraction and Processing Industry; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry / Q000382:microbiology*; D008670:Metals / Q000032:analysis*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D061329:Oil and Gas Fields / Q000382:microbiology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry / Q000382:microbiology*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D008670:Metals; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical