Organic geochemical data from Geoscience Australia's marine survey S282, detailing contamination introduced during sample handling. The dataset identifies specific contaminants like fatty acid amides, antioxidants, and UV absorbers, and traces their sources to plastic bags and sunscreen. The primary survey aim was to detect evidence for hydrocarbon seepage in the Arafura Sea, requiring careful distinction from introduced contaminants.
Use Cases
- Identify sources of sample handling contamination based on detected compounds like fatty acid amides and butylated hydroxytoluene.
- Distinguish between naturally occurring petroleum signals and introduced hydrocarbons based on described branched alkane and alkyl cyclohexane distributions.
- Assess the impact of specific materials, such as plastic sampling bags and PVC core liners, on geochemical sample integrity.
- Design contamination mitigation protocols for marine surveys based on the identified pathways from sunscreen and lubricants.
Strengths
- Identifies specific organic contaminant compounds, including fatty acid amides, butylated hydroxytoluene, Irganox 1076, octabenzone, and octyl methoxycinnamate.
- Traces contamination to concrete sources: two brands of plastic sampling bags and direct contact with sunscreen.
- Includes analysis of potential hydrocarbon contamination sources that could be mistaken for natural petroleum, such as branched alkanes with quaternary carbon atoms.
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
Provenance
- Source
- Geoscience Australia, Australian Ocean Data Network
- Collection Method
- Solvent extraction and analysis of sediment samples and potential contamination sources collected during marine survey S282.
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-06-27 16:31:00.273618; freshness should be verified.
- Geography
- Arafura Sea