Some field and laboratory data from an oil spill in northern Norway during April 1982

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Abstract
Moderate amounts of oil came ashore in Troms county, northern Norway, in April 1982. Most of the oil was deposited in the supralittoral zone and ecological damage was slight. Toxicity tests with sea-urchin eggs and cod eggs and larvae showed seawater extracts of the ‘fresh’ stranded oil to be quite toxic; effects were noted at concentrations below 1 mg/1. After 5 months on the beach weathering had polymerized the oil extensively and further reduced its water solubility, but the viscosity had not changed appreciably. After 12 months the oil contained very small amounts of n-alkanes and volatile oxidation products, but the viscosity and water solubility had not changed much. Seawater extracts of the oil samples collected 5 and 12 months after the spill did not give any direct effects during 4 days treatment of sea-urchin and cod eggs, but during the further development of the cod, effects were observed during hatching in hydrocarbon concentrations around 1 mg/1.