title: Distribution and recovery trajectory of Macondo (Mississippi Canyon 252) oil in Louisiana coastal wetlands.
abstract: We measured the concentration of petroleum hydrocarbons in 405 wetland sediment samples immediately before the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster led to their broad-scale oiling, and on nine trips afterwards. The average concentrations of alkanes and PAHs were 604 and 186 times the pre-spill baseline values, respectively. Oil was distributed with some attenuation up to 100m inland from the shoreline for alkanes, but increased for aromatics, and was not well-circumscribed by the rapid shoreline assessments (a.k.a. SCAT) of relative oiling. The concentrations of target alkanes and PAHs in June 2013 were about 1% and 5%, respectively, of the February 2011 concentrations, but remained at 3.7 and 33 times higher, respectively, than in May 2010. A recovery to baseline conditions suggests that the concentration of alkanes may be near baseline values by the end of 2015, but that it may take decades for the PAH concentrations to be that low.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, United States. Electronic address: euturne@lsu.edu.
authors.forename: R Eugene
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, United States.
authors.forename: Edward B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Overton
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, United States.
authors.forename: Buffy M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, United States.
authors.forename: M Scott
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Miles
authors.affiliation: Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, United States.
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: McClenachan
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, United States.
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hooper-Bui
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, United States.
authors.forename: Annette Summers
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Engel
authors.affiliation: Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, United States.
authors.forename: Erick M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Swenson
authors.affiliation: Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, United States.
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, United States.
authors.forename: Charles S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Milan
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, United States.
authors.forename: Heng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D008145:Louisiana; D008922:Mississippi; D010578:Petroleum / Q000032:analysis*; D059392:Petroleum Pollution; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000737:chemistry*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000737:chemistry*; D053833:Wetlands
chemical_list: D010578:Petroleum; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Alkane; Macondo oil spill; PAH; Recovery; Restoration; Wetland