Forensic Fingerprinting of Biomarkers for Oil Spill Characterization and Source Identification

Biomarkers are one of the most important hydrocarbon groups in petroleum. Biomarkers can be detected in low quantities (ppm and sub-ppm level) in the presence of a wide variety of other types of petroleum hydrocarbons by the use of the gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Relative to other hydrocarbon groups in oil such as alkanes and most aromatic compounds, biomarkers are more degradation-resistant in the environment. Furthermore, biomarkers formed under different geological conditions and ages may exhibit different biomarker fingerprints. Therefore, chemical analysis of biomarkers generates information of great importance to environmental forensic investigations in terms of determining the source of spilled oil, differentiating and correlating oils, and monitoring the degradation process and weathering state of oils under a wide variety of conditions. This article briefly reviews biomarker chemistry, biomarker characterization and quantification, biomarker distributions, weathering effects on biomarker composition, bicyclic biomarker sesquiterpanes and diamondoids, diagnostic ratios and cross-plots of biomarkers, unique biomarkers, application of biomarker fingerprinting techniques for spill source identification, and application of multivariate statistical analysis for biomarker fingerprinting.