British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
While working under Michel Boufadel, I was given the opportunity to travel to the Gulf Coast to study the impact of the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. We were lucky enough to be one of the first academic groups to respond to the spill and were contracted to report our findings to the USCG. We collected a variety of samples and data including chemical composition (nutrients, pH, temp, DO, etc) of porewater and ocean water, MPN of total heterotrophs, alkane, and PAH degraders, sediment core collection to name a few.
Transects were installed at three locations along the Gulf coast:
- Fort Pickens, Fl
- Bon Secour, Al
- Grand Isle, La
Grand Isle, LA
Grand Isle was the closest site to the spill and also was the most severely oiled.
Sampling transect on Grand Isle. DO wells are on the far left and a water chemistry samping well is in the center/foreground. In the background you can see an oil rig.
Taking DO measurements
Collecting water samples.
Heavily oiled beach. Sand was washed up on top of the oiled layer by a storm. Open this figure at its full size (in a new window) to get an appreciation for the layering.
Another view of the mat.
Lighter fractions of the oil seeping out.
Bon Secour, AL
Tarballs absolutely covered the beaches at Bon Secour. There were also some moderately sized oil patches, but they were much smaller in size and extent when compared to Grand Isle.
The transects at each of the sites were the identically arranged, with wells for DO measurements placed to the east and slightly offset from the wells used to collect water samples.
There were tarballs up the wazoo here. My hand for scale (super scientific!).
Fort Pickens, FL
Fort Pickens, being the most distant from the spill, was the least impacted of the sites. Tarballs were still present, as were some weathered oil deposits. It’s a beautiful place to visit if you’re in the area!
Fort Pickens transect.
We had the beach to ourselves even though this was the only site that was open to the public.