Abstract
Addition of a heavy oil to a Spartina salt marsh in the autumn resulted in high concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediment and benthic animals. The highest concentrations of phenanthrene, chrysene and fluoranthene in the sediment were 112, 105 and 75 ng/g sediment, respectively. These concentrations rapidly decreased during the 20 week period following the spill. The times for these hydrocarbons to decrease to 50% of their highest values, i.e. half-life, were approximately 100, 70 and 30 days in sediment, mussels and oysters, respectively. Benthic macrofauna species showed three responses to oil addition which included no change, an increase, or a decrease in the population. No changes were noted in populations of fiddler crabs ( Uca pugnax), oysters ( Crassostrea virginica), and mussels ( Modiolus demissus). Mud snails ( Nassarius obsoleta) increased in density after the spill due to immigration of adult snails from untreated areas to scavenge on animals killed by the oil. Many of the adult periwinkles ( Littorina irrorata) were killed by the oil. In the spring, juvenile periwinkles recolonised to oiled areas as a result of larvae settling.
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