DISCRETE BANDS OF PETROLEUM-HYDROCARBONS AND MOLECULAR ORGANIC MARKERS IDENTIFIED WITHIN MASSIVE CORAL SKELETONS

The tissues of corals deposit an aragonite exoskeleton beneath their o uter living film at a rate dependent on growth and hence on environmen tal conditions. This typically results in annual (seasonal) bands bein g formed within colonies, By analysing molecular organic markers withi n these bands, our research suggests that coral skeletons record conta mination from oil and potentially could be used to investigate other a nthropogenic and biogenic organic inputs. Our analyses of sections fro m within corals (Porites lutea) sampled from the Gulf coasts of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia demonstrate discrete bands of oil contamination whic h, using selected terpenoid biomarkers, can be source-indexed to speci fic oil fields (i.e. Kuwait, Iranian or Arabian crude oils), Together with dating using microscopic and X-ray inspection, this offers the po tential to investigate contamination during recent years. Further rese arch is, however, necessary to elucidate degradation mechanisms during , and following, the occlusion process of organics within coral skelet ons. (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd