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RESPONSES OF MACROBENTHOS COLONIZING ESTUARINE SEDIMENTS CONTAMINATED WITH DRILLING MUD CONTAINING DIESEL OIL
Citation:
Tagatz, M., G. Plaia, AND C. Deans. RESPONSES OF MACROBENTHOS COLONIZING ESTUARINE SEDIMENTS CONTAMINATED WITH DRILLING MUD CONTAINING DIESEL OIL. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-85/125 (NTIS PB86100294).
Description:
Boxes filled with clean sand or clean sand with a 2-cm overlay of mixtures of sand with barite or drilling mud were placed in Santa Rosa Sound, Florida to determine the effects of a used lime drilling-mud on field-colonized macrobenthic communities. Effect of the drilling mud on community structure was greater than that of its barite component after colonization for 8 weeks. Barite causes changes in texture of the sediment and thereby recruitment. The average numbers of animals and species in boxes containing 1:10 and 1:3 mixtures of mud to sand were significantly less than those in control boxes and most of the barite/sand mixtures. The Shannon-Weaver index of diversity, Simpson's index of dominance, and the Bray-Curtis dissimilarity index differed only for 1:3 mud/sand communities. Toxic effects of the lime drilling mud were attributed to a diesel fuel oil component.