Samples taken during the January 26-29 and February 8-12 Endeavor cruises 

 included water samples taken at the surface, at a depth of 6 meters, and near 

 the bottom, as well as bottom sediment samples at each station. The near- 

 bottom and sediment samples will be carefully analyzed to see if there is any 

 relationship between sediment PHC ' s and PHC's in the water column. The water 

 samples taken on both Endeavor cruises show a lower hydrocarbon content than 

 that observed in samples obtained from the Evergreen, Bittersweet, and Vigi- 

 lant directly beneath the slick. In all cases, only the light aromatic 

 fraction of the Argo Merchant oil could be detected, if indeed it was Argo 

 Merchant oil at all. Representative samples of water column extracts are 

 being selected for additional GC-MS analysis at the NOAA National Analytical 

 Facility in Seattle, and several samples will be archived for eventual inter- 

 calibration with BLM's "benchmark" survey contractors for the Georges Bank 

 lease area. 



"Total extractable organics" from Endeavor samples 



On Endeavor cruise EN-002, December 28-30, C. Brown of URI analyzed six 

 water samples by infrared spectrometry for "total extractable organics." The 

 cruise track and station locations are shown on Figure 3-4, where the "X" 

 marks the location of the Argo Merchant. Stations 1 and 3 were well removed 

 from the area of surface oil contamination, and any discovery of oil in those 

 water samples would not be expected to have originated from the grounded 

 tanker. Station 2 was well within the area subject to nearly continual 

 surface contamination since December 19, and could have been expected to 

 exhibit some PHC contamination in the water column. Water samples were taken 

 at the surface at all three stations, at a depth of 6 meters at stations 1 

 and 2, and at the bottom (39 meters) at station 1. All six samples were 

 extracted with CCli+ by Brown's group at URI, and analyzed for "total extract- 

 able organics." At Station 1, they measured concentrations of 68 and 29 

 parts per billion, respectively, for the surface and 6-meter samples, values 

 that are not indicative of any unusual amount of contamination. The bottom 

 water sample at Station 1 yielded a value of 191 parts per billion, higher 

 than Brown could expect for the area, possibly because the bottom was dis- 

 turbed during the sampling. 



At stations 2 and 3, the surface "total extractable organics" concen- 

 trations were 47 and 435 parts per billion, respectively, and the 6-meter 

 sample at station 2 showed a concentration of 455 parts per billion. This 

 last sample could have included oil from the Argo Merchant, and Brown sub- 

 jected this sample, plus the surface sample from station 3, to further anal- 

 yses. 



The hydrocarbon concentrations revealed in the two samples by gas chro- 

 matography were also high, but were not significantly different from the 

 types and amounts found in the "clean" samples. Brown suspects that the high 

 values of total extractable organics in the two samples therefore are due to 

 soluble species rather than PHCs. Further analysis by infrared spectroscopy 

 of the 6-meter sample from station 2 indicated the presence of two organic 

 species: phthalic acid esters and an unidentifiable species. They tried to 

 determine whether these compounds may have originated by degradation of 

 Argo Merchant oil but so far this has not been confirmed by laboratory 



76 



