title: Fingerprint and weathering characteristics of crude oils after Dalian oil spill, China.
abstract: In an attempt to analyze the chemical characterization of oil residues and examine the suitability of chemical fingerprinting methods in oil spill investigations, multiple parameters sensitive to both sources and degree of weathering were used to characterize oil residues from "7-16" Dalian oil spill, China. Oil residues collected 90 days to 120 days after the spill showed a weathering pattern where significant amounts of light to middle molecular weight normal alkanes were depleted with pristane and phytane as dominant peaks. Diagnostic ratios developed from n-alkane and selected isoprenoids (e.g. Pr/Ph, n-C17/Pr, n-C18/Ph, carbon preference index, LMW/HMW-alkanes ratio), all display obvious changes over weathering time, indicating that these ratios are not valid for oil source identification. Furthermore, the biomarker ratios of hopanes and steranes with relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 0.88-4.08% were useful for source identification even for severely weathered oil residues. In addition, RSD of δ(13)C values of individual n-alkanes in oil residue varied from 0.07% to 0.20%, which suggest that stable carbon isotope profile of n-alkanes can also be a useful tool for tracing the source of an oil spill.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Coastal Zone Environment Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai 264003, China. cywang@yic.ac.cn
authors.forename: Chuanyuan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Baiyu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Shijie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Mingming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D010578:Petroleum / Q000032:analysis*; D059392:Petroleum Pollution; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D014887:Weather
chemical_list: D010578:Petroleum; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical