About the Book

Prepared by an authorship drawn from academic researchers, oil production companies, and government scientists and contractors
Includes research sponsored by the government that has only recently been released to the public

Features the results of new, never before published, critical findings on relevant topics

Table of Contents:
Section I Overview.- 1 Introduction to the volume.- 2 Deep-water oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico, and related global trends.- 3 Spilled oil composition and the natural carbon cycle: The true drivers of environmental fate and effects of oil spills.- Section II Geological, Chemical, Ecological and Physical Oceanographic Settings and Baselines for Deep Oil Spills in the Gulf of Mexico.- 4 An overview of the geologic origins of hydrocarbons and production trends in the Gulf of Mexico.- 5 Gulf of Mexico (GoM) bottom sediments and depositional processes: A baseline for future oil spills.- 6 Benthic faunal baselines in the Gulf of Mexico: A precursor to evaluate future impacts.- 7 Linking abiotic variables with macrofaunal and meiofaunal abundance and community.- 8 The asphalt ecosystem of the southern Gulf of Mexico: abyssal habitats across space and time.- 9 Geochemical and faunal characterization in the sediments off the Cuban north and northwest coast.- 10 Mapping isotopic and dissolved organic matter baselines in waters and sediments of Gulf of Mexico.- 11 Toward a predictive understanding of the benthic microbial community response to oiling on the northern Gulf of Mexico coast.- 12 Combining isoscapes with tissue-specific isotope records to re-create the geographic histories of fish.- 13 The utility of stable and radio isotopes in fish tissues as biogeochemical tracers of marine oil spill food web effects.- 14 Modernizing protocols for aquatic toxicity testing of oil and dispersant.- 15 Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon baselines in Gulf of Mexico fishes.- 16 Case Study: Using a combined laboratory, field, and modeling approach to assess oil spill impacts.- Section III Simulations of Future Deep Spills.- 17 Testing the effect of MOSSFA (Marine Oil Snow Sedimentation and Flocculent Accumulation) events in benthic microcosms.- 18 Physical processes influencing the sedimentation and lateral transport of MOSSFA in the NE Gulf of Mexico.- 19 Simulating deep oil spills beyond the Gulf of Mexico.- Section IV Comparisons of likely impacts from simulated spills.- 20 Comparison of the spatial extent, impacts to shorelines, and ecosystem and 4-dimensional characteristics of simulated oil spills.- 21 A predictive strategy for mapping locations where future MOSSFA events are expected.- 22 Connectivity of Gulf of Mexico continental shelf fish populations and implications of simulated oil spills.- 23 Evaluating the effectiveness of fishery closures for deep oil spills using a 4-dimensional model.- 24 As Gulf oil extraction goes deeper, who is at risk? Community structure, distribution, and connectivity of the deep-pelagic fauna.- 25 Evaluating impacts of deep oil spills on oceanic marine mammals.- 26 Comparative environmental sensitivity of offshore Gulf of Mexico waters potentially impacted by ultra-deep oil well blowouts.- Section V Preparing for and Responding to the Next Deepwater Spill.- 27 Preparing for the inevitable: ecological and indigenouscommunity impacts of oil spill-related mortality in the United States Arctic marine ecosystem.- 28 Summary of contemporary research on use of chemical dispersants for deep sea oil spills.- 29 Perspectives on research, technology, policy and human resources for improved management of ultra-deep oil and gas resources and responses to oil spills.- Index.