1 MS. HUGHES: What about if we had a blow-out so that it would be 



2 from the bottom moving up, what effect might that have on retaining the 



3 oil or retaining more oil in the water column coming up? 



4 DR. TEAL: What effect would what have? 



5 MS. HUGHES: This shelf/slope front, this frontal system on it? 



6 DR. TEAL: What did you say? 



7 MS. HUGHES: Would the shelf/slope front affect movement of oil 



8 through the water column if there were to be a blow-out at the edge of 



9 the shelf? 



10 DR. BUTMAN: I guess the stratification of the water column 



11 definitely would have some effect, but my gut feeling is that the-- 



12 MS. HUGHES: Not any more than any other factor? 



13 DR. BUTMAN: You'd have to look at the buoyancy of the oil versus 



14 the--I think it would probably be a minor effect. 



15 DR. KRAEUTER: I'm not talking about the dissolved toxic fraction. 

 15 I'm talking about if you've got a frontal system in there and these 



17 frontal systems tend to be areas of concentration, particularly in 



18 larger things like that, it just goes through that. 



19 We've already talked about the recruitment problems and stuff, and 



20 I would expect something to happen in-- 



21 DR. BUTMAN: Also, the suspended sediment concentrations are 



22 certainly higher near the bottom, even on the shelf. 



23 DR. GRASSLE: I didn't hear the models, but it seems to me that 



24 the model you really need to take into concentration are standing stock 



25 particles and, you know, since all the materials tend to be absorbed by 



26 the particles. 



27 DR. TEAL: The model business is a different issue. 



28 DR. GRASSLE: But, if you are trying to decide rates of 



29 accumulation, it is going to depend a lot on the standing stock 



30 particles. 



31 DR. RAY: I'll throw one other thing in. The particular scenario 



32 we are talking about, you know, we always talk about probabilities of 



33 different incidents occurring. This one particular type of scenario is 



325 



