Fate of crude oil in eroding marsh substrates: field measurements

The fate of crude oil components in eroding marsh substrates was examined by performing field measurements across a transect in a heavily oiled marsh in Bay Jimmy, Louisiana. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) concentrations were measured in cores collected onshore, nearshore and offshore the marsh environment. The nearshore sample was just adjacent to the marsh edge (<1 m) in a shallow embayment while the offshore sample was located further into the bay (10 m) from the shoreline. Nutrient concentrations were measured in dialysis samples placed when the cores were taken and incubated for approximately 2 months. Microbial populations were measured using DNA extraction followed by Illumina Mi-Seq analysis followed by bioinformatics conducted using the Mothur protocol.