Deepwater horizon: Coastal ocean to marsh margin sediment impacts

This wide-ranging study focuses on the impacts of oil derived from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on intertidal, neritic and bathyal sedimentary environments and corresponding benthic ecosystems. This ongoing research, which began in May 2010, sampled a series of coastal systems with obvious signs of oil addition and areas that did not appear impacted by the oil spill. A research cruise in October 2010 collected a series of water column profiles and sediment cores from the continental shelf to abyssal regions, including cores from three stations within the 5-miles restricted area around the Macondo wellhead. Hydrocarbon analyses (PAH, TPH) are presented for water masses and sediments and compared to initial onboard observations of oil at the sediment-water interface, particularly from stations located near the wellhead, and fluorescence measurements in the water column in deep water plumes found at depths ranging from 1050 m to 1300 m.