Table 6-1. Weight Percent of Selected Aromatic 

 Hydrocarbons in Fuel Oils. 



(Figure 6-1) and a sheen of oil with accompanying fuel oil odor was present in 

 some marsh and intertidal areas of the cove. We selected two sites for a small 

 study of the long-term fate of this fuel oil in sediments; a marsh area and an 

 intertidal area. The locations of these sites were carefully recorded, and cores 

 have been taken every fall in October, and every spring in May or June since 

 October, 1974. We did not intend, nor do we pretend, to offer an in-depth 

 study of the geographical extent of the spill or long-term fate at several stations 

 as was conducted for the West Falmouth oil spill (2, 3, 5). Funding, manpower, 

 laboratory space and other commitments to oil pollution research prevented 

 such a study. Also, it was our understanding that Commonwealth of 

 Massachusetts laboratories were conducting a survey of the geographical 

 extent, and long-term fate of the oil. 



Our intent was to compare the long-term fate of the oil at the two locations 

 described, with earlier studies of the West Falmouth oil spill. In essence, there 

 was a near duplicate experiment in progress. The West Falmouth oil spill 

 involved No. 2 fuel oil spilled in late September, 1969 a few miles away from 

 where the Bouchard Barge No. 65 spilled No. 2 fuel oil in October, 1974 

 (Figure 6-1). Was the West Falmouth oil spill really unique with respect to 

 longevity of the spilled oil in marsh and intertidal sediments as some have 

 suggested? This was the primary focus of our investigation. The complete set of 

 data of our study will be presented elsewhere. We have appUed the GC-MF 

 technique to a set of marsh cores from October, 1974 and May, 1975. This 

 data is presented in Table 6-2. Note that the concentrations of aromatic 

 hydrocarbons in the 14-18 or 15-20 cm core section are the concentrations 

 present in marsh sediments prior to the spill. The concentrations of aromatic 

 hydrocarbons in the surface sediments, 0-6 cm and 0-5 cm, clearly show at 

 least two orders of magnitude elevation in concentration as a result of the fuel 

 oil spill; and elevated concentrations are still present in May, 1975, although 

 they have decreased by a factor of about 5 to 6. The longevity of the aromatic 

 hydrocarbons in the marsh sediment is still under investigation. 



70 



