Pollution and Waste Disposal
Prince William Sound
In March 1989, the largest oil spill in US history occurred when the EXXON VALDEZ supertanker struck submerged rocks outside of the shipping lanes in Prince William Sound, Alaska, seriously impacting the tourist and fishing industries there. This event has subsequently resulted in costly litigation between Exxon Corporation and the State of Alaska. Immediately following the spill, and independent of the litigants, the USGS began a series of studies of the fate of the spilled oil. These studies, carried out with help from the Minerals Management Service and NOAA's Marine Fisheries Service, resulted in the discovery that, in addition to weathered products from the 1989 spill, other oil residues from an unexpected source are widely distributed in the western part of the sound. These other residues are from oil products that were previously shipped to Alaska from California. These oil products had been spilled into the sound prior to 1989; the Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964, for example, caused extensive spillage of these products from onshore storage plants. This information has been of direct interest to the parties involved in litigation of the 1989 oil spill. In addition, new knowledge has been gained concerning the distribution and long-term weathering effects of spilled oil residues.
Publications and Abstracts
For additional information contact Project Chief - Paul Carlson
http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/research/prwil.html
maintained by Laura Zink Torresan
last modified 18 March 2004 (lzt)
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Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Division Coastal & Marine Geology Program
Western Region Coastal & Marine Geology
