Macondo oil in deep-sea sediments: Part 2 — Distribution and distinction from background and natural oil seeps

Stout, Scott A.; Payne, James R.; Ricker, Robert; Baker, G. O.; Lewis, Christopher G.

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.07.041

Cited by 32 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…1 and SI Appendix, Fig. S2), particularly the appearance of distinct patterns of biomarker ratios deeper in the sediment column where seep oil is expected to be the dominant source (25,26), suggests that the matching process successfully identified samples contaminated by Macondo oil against a lowlevel background of chemically distinct seep oils.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…We tested the validity of these relationships for the seafloor by comparing the residual fraction for each hydrocarbon remaining in the sediment 4 y after the spill began. Among the compounds examined, carbon skeletons range from nine to 37 atoms (aliphatics, 9-37; aromatics, 9-22; biomarkers, [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] and vary in complexity from the straight-chain aliphatic n-C9 to the pentacyclic, multiply substituted biomarker pentakishomohopane. This analysis provides an unparalleled window into the disposition of oil following the DWH event, in that the extent of biodegradation is quantified simultaneously for 125 petroleum hydrocarbons across wide-ranging contamination levels.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These droplets remained concentrated close to the well's coordinates (2,11,12,15), but modeling suggests that droplet size drove further vertical partitioning, with droplets >50 μm mixing upwards by August 2010 and smaller droplets remaining suspended in the deep ocean (7,17,18). Some suspended oil was eventually deposited to the seafloor, likely via oilmineral aggregates or microbial flocs (8,19,20), with intense contamination within ∼5 km of the well (21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26). Surficial sediments near the well were found to carry >1,000-fold-elevated concentrations of dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate (4), an active ingredient of the chemical dispersant applied at the wellhead, and to exhibit a radiocarbon deficit consistent with oil deposition (27).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Persistence and biodegradation of oil at the ocean floor following Deepwater Horizon

Bagby

Reddy

Aeppli

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster introduced an unprecedented discharge of oil into the deep Gulf of Mexico. Considerable uncertainty has persisted regarding the oil’s fate and effects in the deep ocean. In this work we assess the compound-specific rates of biodegradation for 125 aliphatic, aromatic, and biomarker petroleum hydrocarbons that settled to the deep ocean floor following release from the damaged Macondo Well. Based on a dataset comprising measurements of up to 168 distinct hydrocarbon analytes in 2,980 sediment samples collected within 4 y of the spill, we develop a Macondo oil “fingerprint” and conservatively identify a subset of 312 surficial samples consistent with contamination by Macondo oil. Three trends emerge from analysis of the biodegradation rates of 125 individual hydrocarbons in these samples. First, molecular structure served to modulate biodegradation in a predictable fashion, with the simplest structures subject to fastest loss, indicating that biodegradation in the deep ocean progresses similarly to other environments. Second, for many alkanes and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons biodegradation occurred in two distinct phases, consistent with rapid loss while oil particles remained suspended followed by slow loss after deposition to the seafloor. Third, the extent of biodegradation for any given sample was influenced by the hydrocarbon content, leading to substantially greater hydrocarbon persistence among the more highly contaminated samples. In addition, under some conditions we find strong evidence for extensive degradation of numerous petroleum biomarkers, notably including the native internal standard 17α(H),21β(H)-hopane, commonly used to calculate the extent of oil weathering.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Persistence and biodegradation of oil at the ocean floor following Deepwater Horizon

Bagby

Reddy

Aeppli

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…However, 1-3 years after the spill, PAH concentrations in many of these surface sediments were similar to pre-DWH conditions [11]. This depletion can be attributed to the combined effects of dissolution and biodegradation [12,13]. In fact, microbially sourced radiocarbon-depleted organic molecular species were observed in the water column 4 years after the spill event, potentially accounting for a large proportion of "missing" spilled hydrocarbon [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Hydrocarbon degradation and response of seafloor sediment bacterial community in the northern Gulf of Mexico to light Louisiana sweet crude oil

et al. 2018

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The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) blowout resulted in the deposition to the seafloor of up to 4.9% of 200 million gallons of oil released into the Gulf of Mexico. The petroleum hydrocarbon concentrations near the wellhead were high immediately after the spill, but returned to background levels a few years after the spill. Microbial communities in the seafloor are thought to be responsible for the degradation of hydrocarbons, however, our knowledge is primarily based upon gene diversity surveys and hydrocarbon concentration in field sediment samples. Here, we investigated the oil degradation potential and changes in bacterial community by amending seafloor sediment collected near the DWH site with crude oil and both oil and Corexit dispersant. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were rapidly degraded during the first 30 days of incubation, while alkanes were degraded more slowly. With the degradation of hydrocarbons, the relative abundances of Colwelliaceae, Alteromonadaceae, Methylococales, Alcanivorax, Bacteriovorax, and Phaeobacter increased remarkably. However, the abundances of oil-degrading bacteria changed with oil chemistry. Colwelliaceae decreased with increasing oil degradation, whereas Alcanivorax and Methylococcales increased considerably. We assembled seven genomes from the metagenome, including ones belonging to Colwellia, Alteromonadaceae, Rhodobacteraceae, the newly reported genus Woeseia, and candidate phylum NC10, all of which possess a repertoire of genes for hydrocarbon degradation. Moreover, genes related to hydrocarbon degradation were highly enriched in the oiled treatment, suggesting that the hydrocarbons were biodegraded, and that the indigenous microflora have a remarkable potential for the natural attenuation of spilled oil in the deep-sea surface sediment.

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“…The location in the Gulf of Mexico that we sampled most intensely, Blue Hammock Bayou, Louisiana, was impacted by crude oil and the plankton community was adversely affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (Sammarco et al., 2013) (see section 1). Perhaps the presence of natural oil seeps in the Gulf of Mexico and episodic injections of crude oil into the sediment and water (Anderson, Scalan, Parker, & Behrens, 1983; Stout & Payne, 2016; Stout, Payne, Ricker, Baker, & Lewis, 2016) had imposed temporally varying selection on the copepod population. Such conditions could have led to balancing selection acting to maintain genetic variation in crude oil tolerance in the copepod population, enhancing the evolutionary potential of the population when faced with changes in oil conditions (Posavi, Larget, Gelembiuk, & Lee, 2014; Turelli & Barton, 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary responses to crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill by the copepod Eurytemora affinis

Lee

Remfert

Opgenorth

et al. 2017

Evolutionary Applications

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The BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster was the most catastrophic offshore oil spill in U.S. history, yet we still have a poor understanding of how organisms could evolve in response to the toxic effects of crude oil. This study offers a rare analysis of how fitness‐related traits could evolve rapidly in response to crude oil toxicity. We examined evolutionary responses of populations of the common copepod Eurytemora affinis residing in the Gulf of Mexico, by comparing crude oil tolerance of populations collected before versus after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010. In addition, we imposed laboratory selection for crude oil tolerance for ~8 generations, using an E. affinis population collected from before the oil spill. We found evolutionary increases in crude oil tolerance in the wild population following the oil spill, relative to the population collected before the oil spill. The post‐oil spill population showed increased survival and rapid development time in the presence of crude oil. In contrast, evolutionary responses following laboratory selection were less clear; though, development time from metamorphosis to adult in the presence of crude oil did become more rapid after selection. We did find that the wild population, used in both experiments, harbored significant genetic variation in crude oil tolerance, upon which selection could act. Thus, our study indicated that crude oil tolerance could evolve, but perhaps not on the relatively short time scale of the laboratory selection experiment. This study contributes novel insights into evolutionary responses to crude oil, in directly examining fitness‐related traits before and after an oil spill, and in observing evolutionary responses following laboratory selection.

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Macondo oil in deep-sea sediments: Part 2 — Distribution and distinction from background and natural oil seeps

Cited by 32 publications

References 31 publications

Persistence and biodegradation of oil at the ocean floor following Deepwater Horizon

Persistence and biodegradation of oil at the ocean floor following Deepwater Horizon

Hydrocarbon degradation and response of seafloor sediment bacterial community in the northern Gulf of Mexico to light Louisiana sweet crude oil

Evolutionary responses to crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill by the copepod Eurytemora affinis

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