Abstract:

Evidence of petroleum-derived carbon entering the offshore planktonic foodweb, as well as widespread oiling of coastal areas documented in previous studies suggests that hydrocarbons could have entered the near shore foodweb. To test this hypothesis, we measured radiocarbon (∆14CY) and stable carbon isotopes (∆13C) in an assortment of fish tissue, invertebrate tissue and shell samples collected within a year of the spill at seven sites from Louisiana to Florida USA across the northern Gulf of Mexico. Samples are from July of 2010 through May 2013. This data set also contains plankton samples collected in plankton nets and water column particulates collected on a 0.7 micron filter. Sediment data from Chanton, J., Zhao, T., Rosenheim, B. E., Joye, S., Bosman, S., Brunner, C., et al. (2015). Using Natural Abundance Radiocarbon To Trace the Flux of Petrocarbon to the Seafloor Following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Environ. Sci. Technol., 49(2), 847–854 are also included here.

Suggested Citation:

Jeffrey Chanton. 2016. Radiocarbon data from plankton, water column particulates and sediment and coastal fauna, northern Gulf of Mexico, July 2010 through May 2013. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/N7Z60M2H

Publications:

Cherrier, J., Sarkodee-Adoo, J., Guilderson, T. P., & Chanton, J. P. (2014). Fossil Carbon in Particulate Organic Matter in the Gulf of Mexico following the Deepwater Horizon Event. Environ. Sci. Technol. Lett., 1(1), 108–112. doi:10.1021/ez400149c

Chanton, J. P., Cherrier, J., Wilson, R. M., Sarkodee-Adoo, J., Bosman, S., Mickle, A., & Graham, W. M. (2012). Radiocarbon evidence that carbon from the Deepwater Horizon spill entered the planktonic food web of the Gulf of Mexico. Environmental Research Letters, 7(4), 045303. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/7/4/045303

Wilson, R. M., Cherrier, J., Sarkodee-Adoo, J., Bosman, S., Mickle, A., & Chanton, J. P. (2015). Tracing the intrusion of fossil carbon into coastal Louisiana macrofauna using natural 14C and 13C abundances. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography. doi:10.1016/j.dsr2.2015.05.014

Purpose:

Radiocarbon and d13C can be used to trace the intrusion of oil into the carbon cycle of the Gulf of Mexico.

Data Parameters and Units:

Spreadsheet tabs indicate source material type (Invertebrate, fish, plankton, sediment) Label (Sample ID label), Identification (source animal), Sample type, Location (collection location designator), Collection Date (mm/dd/yy), LAT (Latitude, decimal degrees), LON (longitude, decimal degrees), d13C (0/00), 15N (0/00), 34S (0/00), %C, %N, %S, CO2 (umol), D14C (0/00), SITE (collection site designator), Sample notes, F modern (fraction of modern carbon), Fm err (fraction of modern carbon error, standard deviation) Age (modern or years old), Age Err (standard deviation), pMC (percent modern carbon), %C organic (percentage organic carbon), Depth (m)

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