biogeochemistry. The latter is the category encompassing the three fossil fuel 

 pollution investigations summarized in this paper. Each investigation is, or will 

 be, the subject of one or more papers, and the reader is referred to these papers 

 for details and further discussion. Biogeochemical research delves into the 

 sources, distributions, pathways of transfer, reactions, intermittent and 

 ultimate fates of pollutants in the environment. 



The incorporation of fossil fuel hydrocarbons into surface sediments as a 

 result of oil spills or chronic effluent releases (2, 6, 15), and the resulting 

 long-term slow (years) chemical and biochemical removal processes, was a 

 major finding of oil pollution research between 1969 and 1974. An important 

 concern evolving from these findings was the question of the distribution and 

 long-term fate of fossil fuel hydrocarbons in surface sediments. The fossil fuel 

 components causing the greatest concern were the aromatic hydrocarbons, 

 although recent research has documented that nitrogen containing compounds 

 such as p-toluidines and degradation products such as phenalene-1-one, are also 

 very toxic to certain marine species (18, 19). Thus, there was a need for 

 investigations of aromatic hydrocarbons in surface sediments. This led to a 

 search for a means to accurately measure individual aromatic hydrocarbons at 

 the 1 to 100 X 10 g/g dry weight concentration level in sediments. 

 Quantitative gas chromatography-mass spectrometry or mass fragmentography 

 has evolved as one of the more discriminating and sensitive methods to apply 

 to this problem (1 0, 11 , 1 3). 



Our quantitative GC-mass fragmentographic method is described in detail in 

 another paper (8). We have determined the precision of the method as 2 to 3% 

 based on repeated injections of standard aromatic hydrocarbons for 50 x 10 

 g and about 12% for 1 x 10 g. This compares favorably with quantitative gas 

 chromatographic determinations. However, the GC-MF technique has the very 

 powerful added advantage of allowing mass spectrum to be scanned to insure 

 more complete identification of the compounds measured. A comparison of 

 GC-MF determination of the weight percent of selected aromatic hydrocarbons 

 in the API reference No. 2 fuel oil with earlier GC measurements (17) is 

 presented in Table 6-1. We think that the agreement is quite good. We have 

 appUed this technique to measuring selected aromatic hydrocarbons in marsh 

 sediments exposed to a No. 2 fuel oil spill. 



RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 



Bouchard No. 65 Oil Spill -October, 1974 



On October 12, 1975 the Bouchard Barge No. 65 spilled No. 2 fuel oil into 

 Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. A small amount of this oil entered Windsor Cove 



69 



