The PI seeks to quantify the flux of particulate phase PAHs from re-suspended sediments as a result of the recent hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and compare that flux to PAH flux from the lower Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, also having augmented levels of PAHs from having been a repository of hydrocarbon flux from petroleum contamination in New Orleans. The PI has quantified PAHs in suspended sediments in the Mississippi River, coastal Louisiana, and in the Gulf of Mexico and has pre-hurricane baseline levels of PAHs in these sediments. He will contrast these levels with sedimentary PAHs collected from cores west of the Mississippi River delta (Mississippi River - the realm of influence of Lake Pontchartrain) to that east of the Mississippi River delta (Mississippi River + the realm of influence of Lake Pontchartrain).
