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: 2018
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=665937
• 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).

在加拿大北极地区，海冰覆盖目前正在发生的变化以及对新资源的市场压力导致计划或预期的自然资源开发大幅增加。特别是，石油和天然气公司对勘探和开发许可的兴趣重新燃起。此外，随着冰情的减少，预计通过加拿大北极的航运量将会增加。围绕冰雪覆盖水域漏油的环境问题；然而，这仍然是所有利益相关者关注的一个关键问题。* *加拿大最大的潜在海底石油储量位于巴芬湾下方（包括北水间湖、戴维斯海峡、兰开斯特海峡和琼斯海峡），其中可能蕴含多达 10十亿桶石油。这种资源的开发在勘探和生产的各个阶段都存在泄漏风险。北极海洋生态系统中原油污染的其他可能来源包括天然石油渗漏以及运输来自其他地区的石油的船只的石油泄漏。了解冰中以及周围海水和生物群中石油的来源和归宿对于进行环境风险评估、制定石油泄漏对策、分配责任以及监测泄漏事件中的栖息地恢复至关重要。缺乏制定健全政策和法规的科学知识可能会阻碍加拿大北极石油和天然气工业的发展。相反，开发关于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库将有助于在加拿大人中树立信心，增加航运活动和北极近海石油储备的勘探/开采可以安全地进行，即适当程度的基于科学的准备。**为了解决这些问题，我们建议： 1) 采用下一代多维气相色谱/飞行时间质谱 (GCxGC-TOFMS) 来识别和表征从巴芬湾和兰开斯特海峡内不同区域收集的底部沉积物中的独特石油生物标志物和诊断比率； 2) 采用下一代 GCxGC-TOFMS 结合标准 GC-MS 分析来分析从渗漏区域收集的浮游动物和底栖无脊椎动物样本，以检验区域独特的石油生物标志物及其诊断比率可用作“检测器”来确定的假设他们接触当地石油来源，或者在发生泄漏的情况下，接触新的外国石油来源； 3) 描述巴芬湾地区微生物群落的特征，评估其生物降解碳氢化合物混合物的能力，从而在催化自然生物修复和显着减轻与溢油相关的某些负面影响方面充当“第一响应者”。微生物降解碳氢化合物的能力是众所周知的，并且是微生物群落可以为加拿大社会和生产和运输原油和沥青等碳氢化合物资源的加拿大工业提供“生态系统服务”的一个例子。 **由于 2008 年、2009 年和 2013 年在 CCGS 阿蒙森号附近进行的考察，这些研究所需的许多样本已经“在手”。在后续的阿蒙森考察中，将根据需要收集更多样本。该项目还将为 HQP 的培训做出重大贡献（1 名 PDF 生、1 名技术员、5 名理学学士（每年学习 1 名）、1 名理学硕士和 3 名博士生）。