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Sediment pore-water toxicity test results and preliminary toxicity identification of post-landfall pore-water samples collected following the Deepwater Horizon oil release, Gulf of Mexico, 2010

Open-File Report 2011-1078
By:  and 
https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20111078

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Abstract

Pore water from coastal beach and marsh sediments from the northern Gulf of Mexico, pre- and post-landfall of the Deepwater Horizon oil release, were collected and evaluated for toxicity with the sea urchin fertilization and embryological development assays. There were 17 pre-landfall samples and 49 post-landfall samples tested using both assays. Toxicity was determined in four pre-landfall sites and in seven post-landfall sites in one or both assays as compared to a known reference sediment pore-water sample collected in Aransas Bay, Texas. Further analysis and testing of five of the post-landfall toxic samples utilizing Toxicity Identification Evaluation techniques indicated that ammonia, and to a lesser extent metals, contributed to most, if not all, of the observed toxicity in four of the five samples. Results of one sample (MS-39) indicated evidence that ammonia, metals, and non-ionic organics were contributing to the observed toxicity.

Study Area

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Sediment pore-water toxicity test results and preliminary toxicity identification of post-landfall pore-water samples collected following the Deepwater Horizon oil release, Gulf of Mexico, 2010
Series title Open-File Report
Series number 2011-1078
DOI 10.3133/ofr20111078
Year Published 2011
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) Columbia Environmental Research Center, Contaminant Biology Program
Description vi, 34 p.
Country United States
Other Geospatial Gulf of Mexico
Projection Lambert Conformal Conic
Scale 2000000
Additional Online Files (Y/N) N
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
Additional publication details