Marine oil pollution index

Abstract

From the Abstract: “A Marine Oil Pollution Index (MOPI) is presented to characterize the hydrocarbon burdens of marine tissues or sediments. The index incorporates the ratios of unresolved to resolved components, even n-alkanes to odd n-alkanes, and branched hydrocarbons to n-alkanes, plus the total recoverable aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbon concentrations from gas chromatographic analysis, to yield a single value that can be used to compare the relative magnitude of oil contamination in a series of tissue or sediment samples. Several examples of tissue samples from the intertidal mussel Mytilus californianus are presented, along with results from the 1975-78 BLM Southern California Baseline Study and MMS-sponsored Georges

Bank Monitoring Program, to demonstrate the usefulness of generating single index values for time-series or spatial trend analyses. MOPI values calculated for analyzed tissue samples reflect varying degrees of exposure, ranging from pristine to heavily petrogenic conditions. A MOPI value calculated for a drilling fluid sample containing diesel oil residues also reflectshe heavily petrogenic contamination.” Of particular interest to this bibliography, tissues from quahog (Arctica islandica) and flounder (Paralichthys oblongus) were taken from animals on Georges Bank, site of drilling activities.