USGS releases Alaska oil assessment

Assessment of the phototoxicity of weathered Alaska North Slope crude oil to juvenile pink salmon.

Petroleum products are known to have greater toxicity to the translucent embryos and larvae of aquatic organisms in the presence of ultraviolet radiation (UV) compared to toxicity determined in tests performed under standard laboratory lighting with minimal UV. This study assessed the acute phototoxicity of the water accommodated fractions of weathered Alaska North Slope crude oil (ANS) to juve...

USGS directions in MODFLOW development.

Introduction The development and application of ground-water models has been an important component of USGS hydrologic investigations since the early 1970s. During the past 35 years, the USGS has developed a wide range of computer models to simulate saturated and unsaturated subsurface flow, solute transport, and chemical reactions. The most widely used of these programs is the MODFLOW model, w...

Toxicity Effects of Dispersed Alaska North Slope Oil on Fish

Quantitative Assessment of Current Risks to Harlequin Ducks in Prince William Sound, Alaska, from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Harlequin Ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus) were adversely affected by the Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS) in Prince William Sound (PWS), Alaska, and some have suggested effects continue two decades later. We present an ecological risk assessment evaluating quantitatively whether PWS seaducks continue to be at-risk from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in residual Exxon Valdez oil. Potenti...

NPRA factsheet2

“Whereas there are large seepages of petroleum along the Arctic Coast of Alaska and conditions favorable to the occurrence of valuable petroleum fi elds on the Arctic Coast . . .” President Warren G. Harding used those words in 1923 to describe the apparent petroleum potential of a tract of land on the western North Slope of Alaska, when he issued a one-page executive order establishing the 23-...