Petroleum hydrocarbons in sediments and invertebrates at the base of marine food webs in Baffin Bay; Climate change, industrial development and source apportionment.

巴芬湾海洋食物网底部沉积物和无脊椎动物中的石油碳氢化合物；

• 批准号: RGPIN-2014-06319
• 负责人: Stern, Gary
• 金额: $ 3.13万
• 依托单位: University of Manitoba
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2017-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=633674
• 关键词: Petroleum; hydrocarbons; sediments; invertebrates; base

In Canada’s Arctic, the changes currently underway in sea ice cover, and market pressures for new resources, have resulted in a significant increase in planned or prospective natural resource development. In particular, there has been a resurgence of interest from oil and natural gas companies in exploration and development licensing. Additionally, shipping traffic through the Canadian Arctic is predicted to increase with decreasing ice conditions. The environmental issues surrounding oil spills in ice-covered waters; however, remain a key concern of all stakeholders. The largest prospective under-sea oil reserves in Canada occur beneath Baffin Bay (including the North Water Polynya, Davis Strait, Lancaster Sound, and Jones Sound) which possibly contains as much as 10 billion barrels of oil. Development of this resource carries the risks of spills at all stages of exploration and production. Other possible sources of crude oil contamination in Arctic marine ecosystems include natural oil seeps, and oil spills from ships transporting oil sourced from other regions. Understanding the sources and fate of oil in ice and in the surrounding seawaters and biota are essential for the conduct of environmental risk assessments, the development of oil spill countermeasures, apportioning responsibility, and the monitoring of habitat recovery in the event of a spill. A lack of scientific knowledge for the development of sound policies and regulations could potentially temper the development of Canada’s Arctic oil and gas industry. Conversely, development of a detailed scientific knowledge base about the distribution, behaviour and persistence of hydrocarbons in the Arctic environment will help build confidence among Canadians that increased shipping activities and exploration/exploitation of Arctic offshore oil reserves can safely proceed, i.e., that there is an appropriate degree of science-based preparedness.To address these concerns we propose to; 1) Employ next generation multi-dimenstional gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GCxGC-TOFMS) to identify and characterize unique petroleum biomarkers and diagnostic ratios in bottom sediments collected from various regions within Baffin Bay and Lancaster Sound; 2) Employ next generation GCxGC-TOFMS in conjunction with standard GC-MS analysis to analyse zooplankton and benthic invertebrate samples collected from seep areas to test the hypothesis that regionally unique petroleum biomarkers and their diagnostic ratios can be used as a “detector” to ascertain their exposure to local sources of petroleum or, in the case of a spill, new foreign petrogenic sources; and 3) Characterize the microbial communities within the Baffin Bay region and assess their ability to biodegrade hydrocarbon mixtures and thus act as ‘first responders’ in catalyzing natural bioremediation and significant mitigation of certain negative impacts associated with the spilled oil. The ability of microbes to degrade hydrocarbons is well known and is an example of the ‘ecosystem services’ that microbial communities can potentially provide to Canadian society and Canadian industries that produce and transport hydrocarbon resources such as crude oil and bitumen. Many samples required for these studies are already "in-hand" as a result of expeditions conducted off the CCGS Amundsen in 2008, 2009 and 2013. Additional samples will be collected as required in subsequent Amundsen expeditions. This project will also contribute significantly to the training of HQP (1 PDF, 1 Technician, 5 BSc (1 per year of study), 1 MSc and 3 PhD students).

在加拿大的北极地区，目前在海冰覆盖中正在进行的变化以及新资源的市场压力，导致计划中或预期的自然资源开发大幅增加。特别是，石油和天然气公司在勘探和开发许可方面引起了人们的兴趣。此外，预计通过加拿大北极的运输流量会随着冰条件的减少而增加。围绕冰覆盖的水域漏油的环境问题；但是，仍然是所有利益相关者的关键问题。加拿大最大的潜在海底油储量位于巴芬湾（North Water Polynya，Davis Strait，Lancaster Sound和Jones Sound）下方，其中可容纳多达100亿桶石油。该资源的发展在勘探和生产的各个阶段都带来了溢出的风险。北极海洋生态系统中原油污染的其他可能来源包括天然油，以及运输从其他地区采购的油的船只的溢油。了解冰中石油在冰上以及周围的海水和生物群中的来源和命运对于进行环境风险评估，溢油对策的发展，分配责任以及在泄漏情况下对栖息地恢复的监测至关重要。缺乏科学知识来制定合理的政策和法规，可能会缓解加拿大北极石油和天然气行业的发展。相反，开发有关北极环境中碳氢化合物的分布，行为和持久性的详细科学知识基础，将有助于建立加拿大人之间的信心，加拿大增加运输活动以及对北极海上油储备的探索/开发可以安全地进行，即，有适当的基于科学的准备。采用下一代多二级气体色谱/飞行时间质谱（GCXGC-TOFMS）来识别和表征从巴芬湾和兰开斯特声音中各个地区收集的底部沉积物中独特的石油生物标志物和诊断比； 2) Employ next generation GCxGC-TOFMS in conjunction with standard GC-MS analysis to analyze zooplankton and benthic invertebrate samples collected from see areas to test the hypothesis that regionally unique petroleum biomarkers and their diagnostic ratios can be used as a “detector” to ascertain their exposure to local sources of petroleum or, in the case of a spill, new foreign petrogenic sources; 3）表征巴芬湾地区内的微生物群落，并评估其生物降解碳氢化合物混合物的能力，从而充当催化自然生物修复的“第一反应者”，并显着缓解与溢出的油有关的某些负面影响。微生物降解碳氢化合物的能力是众所周知的，这是微生物群落可以为加拿大社会和加拿大社会和加拿大行业提供的“生态系统服务”的一个例子，这些行业产生和运输诸如原油和沥青等碳氢化合物资源。由于2008年，2009年和2013年在CCGS Amundsen进行了探险，这些研究所需的许多样本已经“手头”。该项目还将为HQP（1 PDF，1位技术人员，5个BSC（每年1个学习），1名MSC和3名博士生）的培训做出重大贡献。