Collaborative Research: RAPID: The Effects of Oil Contamination from the Deep Horizon Disaster on the Composition of Dissolved Organic Matter in Louisiana Coastal Marshes

化学学部环境化学科学（ECS）项目将支持德克萨斯农工大学Thomas Bianchi教授、路易斯安那州立大学Robert Cook教授和佐治亚理工学院Michael Perdue教授的RAPID合作研究项目。该合作小组将调查墨西哥湾“深地平线”灾难造成的石油污染对路易斯安那州沿海沼泽中溶解有机物（DOM）组成的影响。该研究旨在证明从路易斯安那州沿海沼泽收集的DOM成分特征的变化将表明深水地平线石油泄漏对路易斯安那州沼泽地球化学过程的影响。调查小组将利用位于洛杉矶Terrebonne的路易斯安那海洋大学联盟（LUMCON）的船只从Terrebonne湾沿岸的沼泽中收集水样。将对样本进行过滤，以从水样中收集DOM。将使用高级分析方法来分析DOM内容。这项研究对于阐明深海地平线石油泄漏对路易斯安那州海岸生态系统的影响至关重要。更好地了解这种影响，对于制定策略，使沼泽恢复到“深地平线”漏油灾难发生前的状态，是必不可少的。

The Environmental Chemical Sciences (ECS) program of the Division of Chemistry will support the collaborative RAPID research project of Prof. Thomas Bianchi of Texas A & M University, Prof. Robert Cook of Louisiana State University and Prof. Michael Perdue of Georgia Institute of Technology. The collaborative team will investigate the impact of oil contamination from the Deep Horizon Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico on the composition of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the Louisiana coastal marshes. The study aims to prove that changes in the component signature of DOM collected from the Louisiana coastal marshes will be indicative of the impact of the Deep Horizon oil spill on geochemical processes in the Louisiana marshes. The team of investigators will utilize boats from the Louisiana Marine Universities Consortium (LUMCON), located in Terrebonne, LA to collect water samples from marshes along Terrebonne Bay. The samples will be filtered to collect the DOM from the water samples. Advanced analytical methods will be used to analyze the DOM content.The study is crucial to elucidate the impact of the Deep Horizon oil spill on the ecosystems along the Louisiana coast. Better understanding of this impact is imperative to development of strategies to restore the marshes to their condition prior to the Deep Horizon oil spill disaster.