Are coastal resources of NW Portugal fingerprinting hydrocarbons released from the Prestige accident?
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Abstract
Seventy-one samples of mussels, sardine, hake, blue whiting and pouting from the NW Portuguese coast, collected between 18 November 2002 and 6 January 2003, were analyzed for total hydrocarbons, individual n-alkanes and major isoprenoids, pristane and phytane. Hydrocarbons (expressed on chrysene equivalents) registered in whole soft tissues of mussels were below 0.5 µg g–1, with a few exceptions (maximum 1.6 µg g–1). Relatively low levels and sporadic enhanced values were also found in fish fillet samples. In spite of this, analyses of individual n-alkanes and major isoprenoids showed that 10–61% of the samples (according to the species) exhibited these compounds in the proportions of the Prestige fuel signature. Similar diagnostic ratios in biological samples and Prestige fuel and n-alkane composition corroborate the fingerprint hypothesis in coastal resources from NW Portugal.
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