LOOP Marine and Estuarine Monitoring Program, 1978-95. Volume 6: Sediment Quality

This is Volume 6, Sediment Quality, of a six volume set that includes: Volume 1: Executive Summary; Volume 2: Water Chemistry; Volume 3: Physical Hydrography; Volume 4. Zooplankton and Ichthyoplankton; Volume 5: Demersal Nekton; and Volume 6. Sediment Quality. The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) facilities in coastal Louisiana provide the United States with the country's only Superport for off-loading deep draft tankers. Sediment samples were collected quarterly from 1970 through 1995 at designated stations near the LOOP offshore tanker unloading facility, the Clovelly salt dome storage facility, and along the pipeline route between these areas. Sediment data is somewhat simpler to evaluate than other data from the perspective of seasonal effects. But other factors, such as storm currents, may transport sediments away from particular sampling stations, and thus add an element of difficulty. For the sediment quality evaluation, particular emphasis was placed on evaluating changes in sediment levels of petroleum hydrocarbons at stations in the vicinity of report spills.