Trace and minor element content of beach sands affected by oil contamination in Pensacola, FL, June 2010 to July 2011.

Crude oil is typically enriched in vanadium and nickel. Our objective is to determine if V and Ni enrichment in oil contaminated marine sediments and beach sands can be an effective proxy for mapping oil contamination. Crude oil from the Macondo blowout, marine sediments from the Gulf of Mexico, and beach sands from Pensacola, FL were digested and analyzed via ICP-MS. Our results show that beach sands exhibit V and Ni enrichment where visible and substantial oil contamination occurs. In contrast, lightly contaminated marine sediments do not. V and Ni content in marine sediments is related to Mn oxide in the sediment.原油通常富含钒（vanadium）与镍（nickel）。本研究旨在探明，受石油污染的海洋沉积物及海滩砂中的钒、镍富集特征，能否作为表征石油污染分布的有效代用指标。本研究所用样品涵盖马孔多（Macondo）井喷事件产出的原油、墨西哥湾海域的海洋沉积物，以及美国佛罗里达州彭萨科拉（Pensacola, FL）的海滩砂；所有样品均经消解处理，并通过电感耦合等离子体质谱法（ICP-MS）完成分析。研究结果显示，在存在明显且严重石油污染的海滩砂样中，均表现出钒与镍的富集特征；与之相对，仅受轻度石油污染的海洋沉积物则未呈现该富集现象。海洋沉积物中的钒、镍含量与沉积物中的氧化锰（manganese oxide）具有显著相关性。