Abstract:

Water samples for volatile organic compound (VOC) analysis were collected 2019-07-05 to 2019-07-22 from a twelve tank experimental mesocosm system located at Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) in Cocodrie, Louisiana. Mesocosm tanks were treated with various concentrations of oil (characterized as high, medium, low, and no) on July 8, 2019 and water samples were collected at intervals post-oiling to be analyzed for Benzene, Toluene, Ethyl Benzene, m, p xylenes, o xylene, and 1,2,4 TMB.

Suggested Citation:

Overton, Edward B., A. Ghimire, and D. Goettert. 2022. Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) data from mesocosm water samples containing various concentrations of oil. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/QYGQGC9T

Purpose:

To collect post-oiling water column data generated from experiments examining the impacts of controlled oil dosed exposures on marsh ecosystems of the soluble VOC single ring aromatic compounds.

Data Parameters and Units:

Date of Sample Collection (MM/DD/YYYY), Oil Treatment Characterization (No, Low, Medium, High), Sample ID (Internal sample identifier assigned by the analytical lab), Concentrations of Benzene, Toluene, Ethyl Benzene, m, p xylenes, o xylene, and 1,2,4 TMB, Avg (averages for each oil treatment characterization by date), STD (standard deviation for each oil treatment characterization by date). The unit of measurement is ppb.

Methods:

A modified purge and trap GC method, similar to EPA Method 5030C (SW-856) was used for mesocosm water column samples, with sample collection coming on a falling tide. Forty ml of water from each mesocosm tank was collected in headspace free 40ml amber vials, refrigerated at 40°C, and analyzed within 24 hours. Twenty ml of the sample was analyze by purging of the water sample at room temperature for 120 seconds with15ml/minute flow of room air, and the sample effluents were collected on a Tenax micro trap held at 30°C. The trap was heated rapidly to 240°C and the analyses injected onto a 4m meter 100 µ DB5 column ramped at 4°C/sec from 30°C to 200°C, with separated peaks being detected with flame ionization detection. All samples were analyzed in duplicate.

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