Development of a field testing protocol for identifying Deepwater Horizon oil spill residues trapped near Gulf of Mexico beaches

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dc.contributor.authorHan, Yuling
dc.contributor.authorClement, T. Prabhakar
dc.contributor.otherAuburn University
dc.contributor.otherUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa
dc.date.accessioned2023-09-28T19:28:54Z
dc.date.available2023-09-28T19:28:54Z
dc.date.issued2018
dc.description.abstractThe Deepwater Horizon (DWH) accident, one of the largest oil spills in U.S. history, contaminated several beaches located along the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) shoreline. The residues from the spill still continue to be deposited on some of these beaches. Methods to track and monitor the fate of these residues require approaches that can differentiate the DWH residues from other types of petroleum residues. This is because, historically, the crude oil released from sources such as natural seeps and anthropogenic discharges have also deposited other types of petroleum residues on GOM beaches. Therefore, identifying the origin of these residues is critical for developing effective management strategies for monitoring the long-term environmental impacts of the DWH oil spill. Advanced fingerprinting methods that are currently used for identifying the source of oil spill residues require detailed laboratory studies, which can be cost-prohibitive. Also, most agencies typically use untrained workers or volunteers to conduct shoreline monitoring surveys and these worker will not have access to advanced laboratory facilities. Furthermore, it is impractical to routinely fingerprint large volumes of samples that are collected after a major oil spill event, such as the DWH spill. In this study, we propose a simple field testing protocol that can identify DWH oil spill residues based on their unique physical characteristics. The robustness of the method is demonstrated by testing a variety of oil spill samples, and the results are verified by characterizing the samples using advanced chemical fingerprinting methods. The verification data show that the method yields results that are consistent with the results derived from advanced fingerprinting methods. The proposed protocol is a reliable, cost-effective, practical field approach for differentiating DWH residues from other types of petroleum residues.en_US
dc.format.mediumelectronic
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.citationHan, Y., & Clement, T. P. (2018). Development of a field testing protocol for identifying Deepwater Horizon oil spill residues trapped near Gulf of Mexico beaches. In W.-C. Chin (Ed.), PLOS ONE (Vol. 13, Issue 1, p. e0190508). Public Library of Science (PLoS). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0190508
dc.identifier.doi10.1371/journal.pone.0190508
dc.identifier.orcidhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-7878-8139
dc.identifier.urihttps://ir.ua.edu/handle/123456789/11320
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherPLOS
dc.rights.licenseAttribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectPOLYCYCLIC AROMATIC-HYDROCARBONS
dc.subjectTAR BALLS
dc.subjectPETROLEUM BIOMARKERS
dc.subjectCRUDE-OIL
dc.subjectIDENTIFICATION
dc.subjectFATE
dc.subjectINDIA
dc.subjectCOAST
dc.subjectMultidisciplinary Sciences
dc.titleDevelopment of a field testing protocol for identifying Deepwater Horizon oil spill residues trapped near Gulf of Mexico beachesen_US
dc.typeArticle
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