The fate of oil releasedinto the Gulf of Mexico by the 2010 Deepwater Horizons disaster has been amajor concern for scientists and the public.  The additional widespread use of dispersants together withthe relatively 'light' nature of the oil spilled meant thatsignificant amounts of oil could have ended up dissolved or dispersed inundersea plumes. These plumes, away from surface environments and associated UVand evaporative loss mechanisms, have the potential for traveling long distances.Ultimately, the best ecological fate for the spilled undersea oil is to have itremineralized by bacteria to dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). However, thelarge background of inorganic carbon in marine waters makes it challenging toobserve the signal of remineralized petroleum. One possible tool to use in thisarea are carbon stable isotope ratios of DIC, as the stable isotopic composition ofoil, differs significantly from that of background marine DIC. The author willpresent data collected from different locations in the Gulf of Mexico anddiscuss analytical methods used to measure high numbers of DIC samples for highprecision stable isotopic analyses.

Examining the ultimate fate of spilled oil using high precision dissolved inorganic carbon isotope
measurements

241st National Meeting (2011)

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Examining the ultimate fate of spilled oil using high precision dissolved inorganic carbon isotope measurements