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    Fate of dispersants associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill

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    2011 01-05 revised submission to ESnT.pdf (1.345Mb)
    Date
    2011-01-05
    Author
    Kujawinski, Elizabeth B.  Concept link
    Kido Soule, Melissa C.  Concept link
    Valentine, David L.  Concept link
    Boysen, Angela K.  Concept link
    Longnecker, Krista  Concept link
    Redmond, Molly C.  Concept link
    Metadata
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    Citable URI
    https://hdl.handle.net/1912/4332
    As published
    https://doi.org/10.1021/es103838p
    Keyword
     Deepwater Horizon; Dispersants; DOSS; Dilution; Deepwater plume 
    Abstract
    Response actions to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill included the injection of ~771,000 gallons (2,900,000 L) of chemical dispersant into the flow of oil near the seafloor. Prior to this incident, no deepwater applications of dispersant had been conducted and thus no data exists on the environmental fate of dispersants in deepwater. We used ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) to identify and quantify one key ingredient of the dispersant, the anionic surfactant DOSS (dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate), in the Gulf of Mexico deepwater during active flow and again after flow had ceased. Here we show that DOSS was sequestered in deepwater hydrocarbon plumes at 1000-1200m water depth and did not intermingle with surface dispersant applications. Further, its concentration distribution was consistent with conservative transport and dilution at depth and it persisted up to 300 km from the well, 64 days after deepwater dispersant applications ceased. We conclude that DOSS was selectively associated with the oil and gas phases in the deepwater plume, yet underwent negligible, or slow, rates of biodegradation in the affected waters. These results provide important constraints on accurate modeling of the deepwater plume and critical geochemical contexts for future toxicological studies.
    Description
    Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2011. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of American Chemical Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Environmental Science & Technology 45 (2011):1298–1306, doi:10.1021/es103838p.
    Collections
    • Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry (MC&G)
    Suggested Citation
    Preprint: Kujawinski, Elizabeth B., Kido Soule, Melissa C., Valentine, David L., Boysen, Angela K., Longnecker, Krista, Redmond, Molly C., "Fate of dispersants associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill", 2011-01-05, https://doi.org/10.1021/es103838p, https://hdl.handle.net/1912/4332
     

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