experimentation with Argo Merchant oil. It is conceivable that these com- 

 pounds were formed by biodegradation of the oil and cannot be simulated in 

 the laboratory. 



J. Quinn of URI analyzed the two sediment samples from Endeavor cruise 

 EN-002 for total hydrocarbons by gas chromatography (FFAP) columns, after 

 isolation of hydrocarbons by thin-layer chromatography. He found 0.7 parts 

 per million total hydrocarbons at station 1, and 3.0 parts per million at 

 station 2, based on sediment dry weight. However, Quinn reports that Argo 

 Merchant oil was not detected in these samples. The two sediment samples 

 were also extracted with CCI4 by Brown, and the amounts of "total extractable 

 organics" measured by infrared spectrometry. At station 1, 15 parts per 

 million (wet weight) was found, and at station 2, 9 parts per million. These 

 values are typical of "clean" sediment, and bear no relation to the values 

 reported by Quinn for "total hydrocarbons." 



Droplet size analysis at URI 



Oil can be dispersed into the water column by breaking waves. This is 

 an important phenomenon and is affected by the surface chemistry of the oil 

 and water. In some instances the oil droplets are small enough to remain 

 suspended for so long that the suspension can be considered permanent (until 

 the oil is degraded) and in others the suspension is transitory. In the case 

 of the Argo Merchant it is certain that in the rough weather oil droplets 

 were driven down into the water column by breaking waves and some, or all, of 

 these droplets quickly rose back to the surface. Whether or not a substan- 

 tial number of semipermanent tiny droplets were driven into the water is 

 still an open question. 



P. Cornillon of the Department of Ocean Engineering at URI also analyzed 

 the water samples from Endeavor cruise EN-002. His objective was to obtain 

 the particle size distribution of oil droplets as a function of latitude, 

 longitude, and depth in the water column. The presence of such particles in 

 the water column had been a major feature of the Arrow grounding in Cheda- 

 bucto Bay, Nova Scotia, in 1971 (Forrester, 1971). Cornillon hoped to obtain 

 some idea of what is involved in the entrainment process; specifically, if 

 oil droplets were discovered, whether they contained sediment or water or 

 were composed entirely of oil. To this end, water from Endeavor cruise EN- 

 002 was filtered through a Millipore filter with a pore size of 0.45 microns. 

 The filters were refrigerated and analyzed under a microscope. 



The entire filter was scanned under a microscope at a magnification of 

 50, using reflected light. Any object that remotely resembled oil was 

 treated with carbon tetrachloride to dissolve the oil, and the object was 

 then reexamined for any change. One of the samples, the 6-meter sample at 

 URI station 2, was also scanned at magnification of 100 with reflected light 

 and at a magnification of 50 with transmitted light. 



The results of these analyses to date are given in Table 3-3. Only the 

 surface sample taken at station 3 showed oil droplets larger than 10 microns 

 in size, and that was a single, large droplet. To complete this analysis, 



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