Environmental Effects of Offshore Oil Production

The Buccaneer Gas and Oil Field Study has been the most comprehensive research project to date concerned with assessing the ecological effects of offshore production activities. It took nearly five years to complete and involved almost 30 individual research groups. All of the raw data have been archived with NOAA's Environmental Data and Information Services, and detailed technical reports have been deposited with the National Technical Information Service so the interested investigator should be able to gain access to them. However, we felt that it would be desirable to present a distillation of our more significant findings in a form that was more readily available to the scientific and lay community. Thus, we conducted a symposium. on the study during EXPOCHEM '80 at the Astrohall, Houston, Texas during October, 1980. This volume comprises the proceedings of that symposium. All but two of the papers presented are included in this book. Manuscripts were not received from Dr. D. A. Wiesenburg (Texas A&M University: Volatile Hydrocarbons) or Dr. J. Tillery (Southwest Research Institute: Trace Metals), but these topics are adequately covered by other authors. An introductory chapter was added to place the study in its proper perspective and to provide some background material on the Buccaneer Field, a brief chapter on biocides was inserted since this topic generated much dis cussion at the symposium, and a bibliography is provided to direct the interested reader to sources of additional published infor mation on the Study.

Contenu
Prologue.- Major Spills.- Other Sources of Oil.- Previous Studies in the Gulf of Mexico.- The Buccaneer Gas and Oil Field Study.- References.- Hydrocarbons and Sulfur.- Experimental Procedures.- Results.- Discussion.- Acknowledgements.- References.- Biocides.- Biocides Employed.- Assays of Biocides.- Conclusions.- References.- Sedimentology And Geochemistry Of Recent Sediments.- Methods.- Results.- Conclusions.- Acknowledgements.- References.- Surficial Sediments And Suspended Particulate Matter.- Methods.- Results and Discussion.- Conclusions.- Acknowledgements.- References.- Total Organic Carbon and Carbon Isotopes of Sediments.- Materials and Methods.- Preliminary Results and Predictive Model.- Results.- Discussion.- Conclusions.- Acknowledgements.- References.- Distribution and Abundance of Macrobenthic and Meiobenthic Organisms.- Study Area.- Field Methods.- Laboratory Methods.- Data Analysis.- Results.- Discussion.- Summary.- Acknowledgements.- References.- Appendices.- Observations on the Effects of Oil Field Structures on Their Biotic Environment: Platform Fouling Community.- Materials and Methods.- Results and Interpretation.- Acknowledgements.- References.- The Effect of Structures on Migratory and Local Marine Birds.- Materials and Methods.- Results.- Interpretation.- Conclusions.- Acknowledgements.- References.- Bacterial Community Composition and Activity.- Materials and Methods.- Results and Discussion.- Acknowledgements.- References.- Effects on Artificial Reef and Demersal Fish and Macrocrustacean Communities.- Investigative Program.- Environmental Setting and Alterations.- Major Ecosystem Components and Effects.- Conclusions and Recommendations.- Acknowledgements.- References.- Acute Toxicity and Aquatic Hazard Associated with Discharged Formation Water.- Methods and Materials.- Results.- Discussion.- Acknowledgements.- References.- Environmental Synthesis Using an Ecosystems Model.- Construction of the Buccaneer Field Model.- Results.- Discussion.- Acknowledgements.- References.- Currents and Hydrography of the Buccaneer Field and Adjacent Waters.- Methods and Materials.- Results and Discussion.- Conclusions.- Acknowledgements.- References.- Hydrodynamic Modeling of Discharges.- Methods.- Results and Discussion.- Summary.- Acknowledgements.- References.- Transport and Dispersion of Potential Contaminants.- Methods and Results.- Summary.- Acknowledgements.- References.- Epilogue.- Houston Area Oxidants Study.