Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Near-Surface Seawater of Prince William Sound, Alaska,Following the EXXON VALDEZ Oil Spill II: Analysis of Caged Mussels. Air/Water Study Number 3. Subtidal Study Number 3A. EXXON VALDEZ Oil Spill State/Federal Natural Resource D

摘要

Mussels (Mytilus trossulus) were deployed at 22 locations inside Prince WilliamSound and 16 locations outside the Sound at depths of 1, 5 and 25 m for 2 to 8 weeks to determine the biological availability and persistence of petroleum-derived hydrocarbons from the Exxon Valdez Oil (EVO) spill. Four successive deployments were made in 1989, and two each in 1990 and 1991. Mussels were analyzed for 27 alkane and 43 polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) analytes. PAH concentrations derived from EVO in mussels decreased with depth, time, and distance from heavily oiled beaches. Hydrocarbon accumulation derived from EVO by deployed mussels indicates petroleum hydrocarbons were available to subsurface marine fauna the summer following the spill, which may be a route of oil ingestion exposure by fauna at high trophic levels.