Tracking the early signals of crude oil in seawater and plankton after a major oil spill in the Red Sea.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the immediate impacts of oil spills is essential to recognizing their long-term consequences on the marine environment. In this study, we traced the early (within one week) signals of crude oil in seawater and plankton after a major oil spill in October 2019 in the Red Sea. At the time of sampling, the plume had moved eastward, but we detected significant signs of incorporation of oil carbon into the dissolved organic carbon pool, resulting in a 10-20% increase in the ultraviolet (UV) absorption coefficient (a₂₅₄) of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM), elevated oil fluorescence emissions, and depletion of the carbon isotope composition (δ¹³C) of the seawater. The abundance of the picophytoplankton Synechococcus was not affected, but the proport

SUBMITTER: Kottuparambil S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10212844 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature