LONG-TERM WEATHERING OF AMOCO CADIZ OIL IN SOFT INTERTIDAL SEDIMENTS

ABSTRACT Samples of sediment were taken at intervals between 1979 and 1986 from soft sediment locations in the Aber Benoit, an estuary heavily impacted by the Amoco Cadiz oil spill of 1978, and from a comparable reference site outside the spill zone. Each sample was analyzed for aliphatic hydrocarbons by capillary gas chromatography. The data demonstrate the progressive weathering of the Amoco Cadiz oil resulting in an assemblage of biogenic hydrocarbons similar to the reference site by 1986 at all but the most heavily impacted locations. The data indicate that any residues of weathered Amoco Cadiz oil present in 1985-86 were in the final stages of degradation.