CHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF MOUSSE AND SELECTED ENVIRONMENTAL SAMPLES FROM THE AMOCO CADIZ OIL SPILL

Abstract

ABSTRACT Mousse, biota, soil, sediment and reference mousse (collected immediately adjacent to the wreck) samples were collected during and immediately after the Amoco Cadiz oil spill. A medium Arabian crude oil was used as a nonweathered control sample. The extracts were fractionated by liquid/solid chromatography and analyzed by high resolution gas chromatography and GC-MS techniques (mass spectrometry). GC-MS analysis had identified most of the major components in the 40 percent benzene in n-hexane fractions of the samples. Relative concentrations of selected aromatic components in the various samples were compared using a unique three-dimensional plotting format. The presence of oxidation products from the diben-zothiophenes were characterized in methanol fractions of actual environmental samples. Laboratory experiments conducted under simulated environmental conditions suggest that these oxidized products may arise by photochemical transformations. Products were identified by GC and GC-MS techniques and representative mass spectra are included.