Abstract:

This dataset reports selected biomarker ratios in marine sediment cores using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Sediment cores were collected onboard R/V Weatherbird II cruise WB-0814 in the northern Gulf of Mexico from 2014-08-17 to 2014-08-26. Marine cores were sectioned at specific intervals, and freeze-dried. Hydrocarbons were extracted from freeze-dried samples using a dichloromethane/methanol (9:1) mixture of solvents and extracts were analyzed using an Agilent 7890B gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) instrument attached to a 5977A mass detector. Data was used to prepare elected biomarker ratios in sediment cores from sampling sites in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Chief scientists for this cruise were Dr. Steve Murawski and Dr. David Hollander, and the objective was to create Gulf-wide baselines for sediment and fish.

Suggested Citation:

Radovic, Jagos. 2019. GC-MS characterization of marine sediment cores collected onboard R/V Weatherbird II cruise WB-0814 in the northern Gulf of Mexico from 2014-08-17 to 2014-08-26. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/n7-s63c-ym74

Purpose:

These datasets were developed for the purpose of forensic fingerprinting of marine sediments and source identification of potential records of Deepwater Horizon (DWH) and Ixtoc spills.

Data Parameters and Units:

File “sampling sites”: sampling station id, sediment core collection date (MM/DD/YYYY), latitude and longitude (degrees minutes), water depth (m). Worksheet "sGoM" contains sampling information of sediment cores collected in the southern Gulf of Mexico and this dataset is available under GRIIDC UDI R4.x267.000:0083. File “Characterization of marine cores from the northern Gulf of Mexico using GC-MS.xlsx”: Sample id (station id label and depth intervals (in mm) within each core), organic compounds ration acronyms, biomarker ratios. The following organic compounds were included in this analysis and in parenthesis the acronym and the mass-to-charge ratio (m/z): 4-methyl dibenzothiophene (4MDBT, 198); 1-methyl dibenzothiophene (1MDBT, 198); 2+3-methyl dibenzothiophene (2,3MDBT, 198); dibenzothiophene (DBT, 184); methylphenantrene index (MPI-1, 192; calculated as 1.5*(2-methyl phenanthrene+3-methyl phenanthrene)/(phenanthrene+1-methyl phenanthrene+9-methyl phenanthrene)); 18a(H)-22,29,30-trisnorneohopane (Ts, 191); 17a(H)-22,29,30-trisnorneohopane (Tm, 191); C29 17a(H),21 b(H) hopane (29H, 191); C30 17a(H),21 b(H) hopane (30H, 191); 18-a(H)-30-norneohopane (29Ts, 191); C21 Tricyclic terpane (21TT, 191); C23 Tricyclic terpane (23TT, 191); C24 Tricyclic terpane (24TT, 191); C30-moretane (30M/30H, 191); C29 5a(H), 14a(H), 17a(H) 20S sterane (29aaaS, 217); C29 5a(H), 14a(H), 17a(H) 20R sterane (29aaaR, 217); C29 5a(H),14b(H),17b(H) 20S sterane+C29 5a(H),14b(H),17b(H) 20R sterane (29abb(S+R), 217); C27 5a(H), 14b(H), 17b(H) 20S sterane+C27 5a(H), 14b(H), 17b(H) 20R sterane (27abb(S+R), 218); C28 5a(H), 14b(H), 17b(H) 20S sterane+C28 5a(H), 14b(H), 17b(H) 20R sterane (28abb(S+R), 218); Pristane (Pr, 85); Phytane (Ph, 85); C17-normal alkane (C17, 85); C18-normal alkane (C17, 85).

Methods:

Hydrocarbons are extracted from freeze-dried samples using dichloromethane/methanol (9:1) mixture of solvents (Van Eenennaam et al., 2018; Radović et al., 2016a; Radović et al., 2016b).

Instruments:

GC/MS system from Agilent; 7890B GC coupled to 5977A mass detector.

Error Analysis:

Procedural and solvent blanks were run with samples with a GC/MS batch. An in-house reference oil sample was used for analysis. This lab method performed well in the GoMRI hydrocarbon inter-calibration experiment in 2015 using SRM2779 and SRM2777 from NIST.

Provenance and Historical References:

Van Eenennaam, J. S., Rahsepar, S., Radović, J. R., Oldenburg, T. B. P., Wonink, J., Langenhoff, A. A. M., Murk, A. J., Foekema, E. M. (2018). Marine snow increases the adverse effects of oil on benthic invertebrates. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 126, 339–348. doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.11.028 Radović, J. R., Silva, R. C., Snowdon, R. W., Brown, M., Larter, S., & Oldenburg, T. B. P. (2016). A rapid method to assess a broad inventory of organic species in marine sediments using ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry. Rapid Commun. Mass Spectrom., 30(11), 1273–1282. doi:10.1002/rcm.7556 Radović, J. R., Silva, R. C., Snowdon, R., Larter, S. R., & Oldenburg, T. B. P. (2016). Rapid Screening of Glycerol Ether Lipid Biomarkers in Recent Marine Sediment Using Atmospheric Pressure Photoionization in Positive Mode Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry. Anal. Chem., 88(2), 1128–1137. doi:10.1021/acs.analchem.5b02571

Individual Files: