To assess the potential impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on offshore ecosystems, 11 sites hosting deep-water coral communities were examined 3 to 4 mo after the well was capped. Healthy coral communities were observed at all sites >20 km from the Macondo well, including seven sites previously visited in September 2009, where the corals and communities appeared unchanged. However, at one site 11 km southwest of the Macondo well, coral colonies presented widespread signs of stress, including varying degrees of tissue loss, sclerite enlargement, excess mucous production, bleached commensal ophiuroids, and covering by brown flocculent material (floc). On the basis of these criteria the level of impact to individual colonies was ranked from 0 (least impact) to 4 (greatest impact). Of the 43 corals imaged at that site, 46% exhibited evidence of impact on more than half of the colony, whereas nearly a quarter of all of the corals showed impact to >90% of the colony. Additionally, 53% of these corals’ ophiuroid associates displayed abnormal color and/or attachment posture. Analysis of hopanoid petroleum biomarkers isolated from the floc provides strong evidence that this material contained oil from the Macondo well. The presence of recently damaged and deceased corals beneath the path of a previously documented plume emanating from the Macondo well provides compelling evidence that the oil impacted deep-water ecosystems. Our findings underscore the unprecedented nature of the spill in terms of its magnitude, release at depth, and impact to deep-water ecosystems.

The long-term fate of petroleum hydrocarbons in marsh sediments (West Falmouth, MA) contaminated in 1969 by the spill of the barge Florida was investigated. A 36-cm-long sediment core was collected in August 2000, and sediment extracts were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC x GC). The latter technique is capable of separating 1 order of magnitude more compounds than the former and was used to observe whether any compositional changes in the unresolved complex mixture (UCM) occurred. No evidence of petroleum residues was detected in the top 6 cm (0-6 cm) and the lower 8 cm (28-36 cm) of the core. However, the central sections 16-28 cm) were dominated by a UCM in the boiling range of n-C13-n-C25 alkanes, consistent with a No. 2 fuel oil source. The 12-14- and 14-16-cm sections had the highest concentrations of UCM approximately 8 mg g(-1)). These values are similar to concentrations observed shortly after the spill. Initial GC x GC analysis revealed that only the n-alkanes were completely degraded, and contrary to previous studies, pristane and phytane as well as numerous other branched alkanes are still present in the sediments. These results suggestthatatthis site hydrocarbon contamination will persist indefinitely in the sedimentary record.

Following the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) blowout in 2010, oil floated on the Gulf of Mexico for over 100 days. In the aftermath of the blowout, substantial accumulation of partially oxidized surface oil was reported, but the pathways that formed these oxidized residues are poorly constrained. Here we provide five quantitative lines of evidence demonstrating that oxidation by sunlight largely accounts for the partially oxidized surface oil. First, residence time on the sunlit sea surface, where photochemical reactions occur, was the strongest predictor of partial oxidation. Second, two-thirds of the partial oxidation from 2010 to 2016 occurred in less than 10 days on the sunlit sea surface, prior to coastal deposition. Third, multiple diagnostic biodegradation indices, including octadecane to phytane, suggest that partial oxidation of oil on the sunlit sea surface was largely driven by an abiotic process. Fourth, in the laboratory, the dominant photochemical oxidation pathway of DWH oil was partial oxidation to oxygenated residues rather than complete oxidation to CO. Fifth, estimates of partial photo-oxidation calculated with photochemical rate modeling overlap with observed oxidation. We suggest that photo-oxidation of surface oil has fundamental implications for the response approach, damage assessment, and ecosystem restoration in the aftermath of an oil spill, and that oil fate models for the DWH spill should be modified to accurately reflect the role of sunlight.

Understanding microbial carbon sources is fundamental to elucidating the role of microbial communities in carbon cycling and in the biodegradation of organic contaminants. Because the majority of anthropogenic contaminants are either directly or indirectly derived from fossil fuels that are devoid of 14C, radiocarbon can be used as a natural inverse tracer of contaminant carbon in the contemporary environment. Here, 14C analysis of individual microbial phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA) was used to characterize the carbon sources utilized bythe active microbial community in salt marsh sediments contaminated by the Florida oil spill of 1969 in Wild Harbor, West Falmouth, MA. A specific goal was to determine whether this community is actively degrading petroleum residues that persist in these sediments. The delta14C values of microbial PLFA in all sediment horizons (contaminated and noncontaminated) matched the delta14C of the total sedimentary organic carbon after petroleum removal, indicating that no measurable metabolism of petroleum residues was occurring. This result agrees with ancillary data such as the delta13C content and distribution of PLFA, and the residual hydrocarbon composition determined by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GCxGC) analysis. We hypothesize that microbes have chosen to respire the natural organic matter rather than the residual petroleum hydrocarbons because the former is more labile. Future efforts directed at determining indices of microbial degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons should consider competition with natural organic matter.