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Gulf of Mexico (GoM) Bottom Sediments and Depositional Processes: A Baseline for Future Oil Spills

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Scenarios and Responses to Future Deep Oil Spills

Abstract

The deposition/accumulation of oil on the seafloor is heavily influenced by sediment/texture/composition and sedimentary processes/accumulation rates. The objective of this chapter is to provide a baseline of Gulf of Mexico sediment types and transport/depositional processes to help guide managers where oiled sediments may be expected to be deposited and potentially accumulate on the seafloor in the event of a future oil spill. Based solely on sediments/processes/accumulation rates, regions most vulnerable to oil deposition/accumulation include the deep eastern basin, followed by the western/southwestern basin, and north and west continental margins. The least vulnerable regions include the northwest Cuban shelf and the carbonate-dominated west Florida shelf and Campeche Bank. This is intended to be used as a general, “first cut” tool and does not consider local variations in sediments/processes.

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Change history

  • 01 October 2019

    The book was inadvertently published without including the name of Michael G. Reuscher as a co-author of Chapter 5.

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Funding

This research was made possible by grants from the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative through its consortia: the Center for the Integrated Modeling and Analysis of the Gulf Ecosystem (C-IMAGE) and Deep Sea to Coast Connectivity in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico (Deep-C). Data are publicly available through the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative Information & Data Cooperative (GRIIDC) at https://data.gulfresearchinitiative.org (doi: [10.7266/N7FJ2F94, 10.7266/N7FJ2F94, 10.7266/N7610XTJ, 10.7266/n7-4pg2-4755, 10.7266/n7-58a1-b761, 10.7266/n7-78ae-7m58, 10.7266/n7-3vmj-nk86, 10.7266/n7-7bcg-yk08].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Eckerd College, Department of Marine Science, St. Petersburg, FL, USA

    Gregg R. Brooks & Rebekka A. Larson

  2. University of South Florida, College of Marine Science, St. Petersburg, FL, USA

    Rebekka A. Larson, Patrick T. Schwing & David J. Hollander

  3. University of Southern Mississippi, School of Ocean Science and Engineering, Kiln, MS, USA

    Arne R. Diercks

  4. Universidad de La Habana, Centro de Investigaciones Marinas, Havana, Cuba

    Maickel Armenteros & Adrian Martínez-Suárez

  5. Center for Research and Higher Education at Ensenada, CICESE, Ensenada, BC, Mexico

    Misael Diaz-Asencio & Juan Carlos Herguera

  6. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Unidad Académica Procesos Oceánicos y Costeros, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Mexico City, Mexico

    Joan-Albert Sanchez-Cabeza

  7. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Unidad Académica Mazatlán, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Mazatlán, Mexico

    Ana C. Ruiz-Fernandez & Libia H. Pérez-Bernal

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  1. Gregg R. Brooks
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  2. Rebekka A. Larson
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  3. Patrick T. Schwing
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  4. Arne R. Diercks
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  5. Maickel Armenteros
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  6. Misael Diaz-Asencio
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  7. Adrian Martínez-Suárez
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  8. Joan-Albert Sanchez-Cabeza
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  9. Ana C. Ruiz-Fernandez
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  10. Juan Carlos Herguera
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  11. Libia H. Pérez-Bernal
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  12. David J. Hollander
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gregg R. Brooks .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, FL, USA

    Steven A. Murawski

  2. College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, FL, USA

    Cameron H. Ainsworth

  3. College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, FL, USA

    Sherryl Gilbert

  4. College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, FL, USA

    David J. Hollander

  5. Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA

    Claire B. Paris

  6. Hamburg University of Technology, Hamburg, Germany

    Michael Schlüter

  7. Mote Marine Laboratory, Sarasota, FL, USA

    Dana L. Wetzel

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Brooks, G.R. et al. (2020). Gulf of Mexico (GoM) Bottom Sediments and Depositional Processes: A Baseline for Future Oil Spills. In: Murawski, S., et al. Scenarios and Responses to Future Deep Oil Spills. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12963-7_5

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