Table 1.
Comparison of half-lives of petroleum hydrocarbons reported for coastal marine environments (half-life = LN(2)/decay rate constant).
| Source | Type of Oil Deposit | Half Life Alk (d) | Half Life PAH (d) | Location or origin | Event | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| varied | crude oil | <25–383 | 38–898 | model | modeling decay | Howard et al. 2005 |
| varied | — | — | 61–2190 | literature value | synthesis | Shiu et al. 2006 |
| buried supratidal MC252 | SOA | 285 (100–568) | 352 (94–836) | Pensacola Beach, FL | DWH blowout | this study |
| buried intertidal MC252 | weathered oil | 53 | 58 | Pensacola Beach, FL | DWH blowout | Huettel et al. 2018 |
| surface supratidal MC252 | SRB | 70 | 83 | Caminada Headlands, LA | DWH blowout | Elango et al. 2014 |
| surface shelf MC252 | crude | — | 53–67 | Florida shelf | DWH blowout | Snyder et al. 2014 |
| shelf MC252 | SOM | 6 | — | Louisiana shelf plume | DWH blowout | Hazen et al. 2010 |
| intertidal re-exposed MC252 | SRB | — | 1733* | Gulf Shores, AL | DWH blowout | John et al. 2016 |
| surface marsh MC252 | weathered oil | 63* | 53* | Barataria Bay, LA | DWH blowout | Mahmoudi et al. 2013 |
| surface estuary MC252 | weathered oil | 178* | — | Louisiana estuaries | DWH blowout | Turner et al. 2014 |
| surface sediment Bonny | crude oil | 27 | 33 | Delaware shoreline | experiment | Venosa et al. 1997 |
| surface intertidal Prestige | light crude oil | 92–241 | 64–317 | Galicia, Spain | experiment | Jimenez et al. 2006 |
| surface sediment submerged | weathered #4 crude | 62* | 112 | Galicia, Spain | Aegean Oil spill | Pastor et al. 2001 |
| buried intertidal | Brent crude oil | — | 161 | Sequim Bay, Washington | experiment | Anderson et al. 1983 |
| intertidal surface | weathered oil | — | 61–487 | Prince William Sound, AK | Exxon Valdez spill | Boehm et al. 1995 |
| buried intertidal Exxon | weathered crude | — | 61–487 | Prince William Sound, AK | Exxon Valdez spill | Wolfe et al. 1994 |
| intertidal surface Exxon | weathered oil | — | 866–1155 | Prince William Sound, AK | Exxon Valdez spill | Peterson et al. 2005 |
| surface water light crude | weathered oil | — | 73 | Breton coast | Amoco Cadiz spill | Berne et al. 1980 |
| stranded surface water | weathered tanker oil | 70 | 88 | Korean coastlines | Hebei Spirit oil spill | Yim et al. 2011 |
| intertidal | crude tanker oil | — | 43 | Puget Sound | ARCO Ancorage spill | Miller 1989 |
| beach surface | weathered tanker oil | — | 123* | Clifton Beach, Pakistan | Tasman Spirit spill | Munshi et al. 2011 |
*Values calculated from publication data (not reported by actual publications).