"Fingerprints" of Sediment Oil 



Wild Hartor, 

 May 1974 



No. 2 fuel oil 



Falmouth Harbor, 

 June 1974 



Source: (Al Sanders, H.L., et al., IN PRESS. Anatomy of an Oil Spill: The 

 West Falmouth Study (submitted to EPA). (B,C,D) Michael, A.D., C.R. 

 Van Raalte and L.S. Brown. 1975. Long-Term Effects of an Oil Spill at 

 West Falmouth, Massachusetts. Proceedings of Conference on Prevention 

 and Control of Oil Polution. API. 



Gas chromatography shows that the hydrocarbons in 

 the sediment at Wild Harbor were more similar to No. 2 

 fuel oil than to hydrocarbons commonly found in nearby 

 Falmouth Harbor. 



How Persistent 

 Was the Oil? 



At West Falmouth, the spilled oil 

 has persisted for over ten years. Even 

 today, relatively fresh No. 2 fuel oil 

 can be found in the marshes of Wild 

 Harbor, in general, hydrocarbon 

 levels in the sediments of oiled sta- 

 tions have tended to decrease slowly 

 over time. The major processes 

 responsible for this decrease are 

 dissolution, or dissolving into the 

 water, and biodegradation, which is 

 breaking down of matter by living 

 organisms. 



Once in the environment, oil may 

 be redistributed, dispersed or concen- 

 trated as time passes. For example, in 

 March 1970 there was a dramatic in- 

 crease in the amount of sediment oil 

 at the heavily oiled Wild Harbor 

 sampling station. The "fingerprint" 

 technique showed that the hydro- 

 carbons in Wild Harbor sediments, as 

 late as 1974, were more similar to 

 those of No. 2 fuel oil than to the 

 hydrocarbons found in the sediments 

 of Falmouth, a nearby polluted har- 

 bor. The source of this oil is thought 

 to be the sponge-like marshes of the 

 Wild Harbor River, where the original 

 No. 2 fuel oil is still leaching out. 



Organisms within the ecosystem 

 absorb, ingest, accumulate, and 

 distribute petroleum hydrocarbons. 

 Woods Hole researchers K.A. Burns 

 and J.M. Teal found traces of 

 polluting hydrocarbons in the plants 

 and animals of Wild Harbor marshes 

 twelve to eighteen months after the 

 West Falmouth spill. The lingering 

 residue of No. 2 fuel oil was found in 

 birds, algae, marsh grass, mussels, 

 and fish from the Wild Harbor River 

 area, but samples from the nearby 

 Sippewissett Marsh control station 

 were uncontaminated. 



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