Long term evolution of petroleum biomarkers in mangrove soil (Guadeloupe)

Australasian asphaltite strandings: Their origin reviewed in light of the effects of weathering and biodegradation on their biomarker and isotopic profiles

“…Upon entering the ocean any crude oil is exposed to a combination of weathering processes including aerobic biodegradation, water washing, photo-oxidation and evaporation (Munoz et al, 1997;Gagnon et al, 1999;Wenger and Isaksen, 2002;Peters et al, 2005;Fernandez-Alvarez et al, 2007;Wardlaw et al, 2008;Farwell et al, 2009). These processes, generally acting in concert, can alter the initial concentrations of hydrocarbons in the discharged oil at rates orders of magnitude faster than within the subsurface carrier bed or reservoir, as revealed both by laboratory experiments and field studies of spilled oils and natural seeps (Goodwin et al, 1983;Wardroper et al, 1984;Douglas et al, 1996Douglas et al, , 2002Munoz et al, 1997;Wenger et al, 2001;Wenger and Isaksen, 2002;Peters et al, 2005;Wardlaw et al, 2008). However, their cumulative impact on a mass of asphaltic bitumen oozing from the seabed will be much less significant.…”

Characterization and identification of the Detroit River mystery oil spill (2002)

“…Chemical analysis of source-characteristic and environmentally persistent biomarkers generates information of great importance in determining the source of spilled oil, differentiating oils, monitoring the degradation process and weathering state of oils under a wide variety of conditions. In recent years, use of biomarker fingerprinting techniques to study spilled oils has greatly increased, and biomarker parameters have been playing a prominent role in almost all oil spill work [8,13,14,17,[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. Diagnostic ratios of target "source-specific" biomarker compounds were also determined and presented in Table 3.…”

Occurrence and Distribution of Aliphatic and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Surface Waters along Coastal Area of Suez Gulf

“…So this ratio is used as an index for the degree of weathering (mainly biodegradation). This ratio decreases with increasing weathering (41) , results obtained for samples (Table 3) show the following sequences respectively for increasing biodegradation, weathering 6<3< 1 <5< 9 < 8 <2<4<7. The relatively higher differences between the sequences and that of the other parameters are due to the differences in the added biogenic hydrocarbons specially that of nC 25 .…”