Unlike PAHs from Exxon Valdez Crude Oil, PAHs from Gulf of Alaska Coals are not Readily Bioavailable

• Published in: Environmental science & technology Vol. 43; no. 15; pp. 5864 - 5870
• Main Authors: Deepthike, Halambage Upul, Tecon, Robin, Kooten, Gerry van, Meer, Jan Roelof van der, Harms, Hauke, Wells, Mona, Short, Jeffrey
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 01.08.2009
• Subjects: 01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT; 02 PETROLEUM; Adsorption; ALASKA; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; Applied sciences; BACTERIA; Bioavailability; Biological and medical sciences; BIOLOGICAL AVAILABILITY; BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS; Biosensing Techniques; Carbon; Carbon - chemistry; COAL; COAL SEAMS; COASTAL REGIONS; Crude oil; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; Environmental Exposure; Environmental Measurements Methods; Environmental Pollutants - analysis; ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Geologic Sediments - chemistry; GLACIERS; Green Fluorescent Proteins - chemistry; Hydrocarbons - analysis; Ice; Kaolin - analysis; Naphthalenes - analysis; OIL SPILLS; PETROLEUM; Pollution; POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS; Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons - analysis; Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons - chemistry; QUANTITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS; RIVERS; SEDIMENTS; SOURCE ROCKS; USA; Pacific Ocean; Gulf of Alaska; North Pacific; INE, USA, Alaska, Alaska Gulf; Persistent organic pollutant; Hydrocarbon; Pollutant behavior; Crude oil; Coal; Bioavailability; Polycyclic aromatic compound; Organic compounds
• ISSN: 0013-936X; 1520-5851
• DOI: 10.1021/es900734k

In the wake of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, spatially and temporally spill-correlated biological effects consistent with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure were observed. Some works have proposed that confounding sources from local source rocks, prominently coals, are the provenance of the PAHs. Representative coal deposits along the southeast Alaskan coast (Kulthieth Formation) were sampled and fully characterized chemically and geologically. The coals have variable but high total organic carbon content, technically classifying as coals and coaly shale, and highly varying PAH contents. Even for coals with high PAH content (∼4000 ppm total PAHs), a PAH-sensitive bacterial biosensor demonstrates nondetectable bioavailability as quantified, based on naphthalene as a test calibrant. These results are consistent with studies indicating that materials such as coals strongly diminish the bioavailability of hydrophobic organic compounds and support previous work suggesting that hydrocarbons associated with the regional background in northern Gulf of Alaska marine sediments are not appreciably bioavailable.