ABSTRACT
Ten replicates of the sediment and all three of the benthic species were collected at each of the following sites: near-field and far-field stations prior to drilling, near-field, far-field and the five gradient stations following drilling. A total of 871 benthic grab samples were collected using tefloncoated Van Veen grabs (0.1 m2). Due to the low density of organisms, 812 grabs were normally required to obtain the minimum biomass of 1 gram wet weight per replicate for each species. Sediment samples were collected from each grab sample and cross referenced to the organisms from that same grab. In the laboratory, the percentage contribution of each grab sample to the faunal replicate was determined. The sediments from each grab were subsampled and composited following these ratios to provide a final replicate sample. In this way the relative contribution of each grab sample to a specific composite were identical for both sediments and fauna. With this compositing, the concentrations of Ba accumulated by a given composite of organisms could be correlated with the metal concentrations in the specific sediments from which those organisms were collected. Aliquots of composited sediments were also
taken from three replicates at each station (both pre-and post-drilling) for analysis of total Ba by NAA.
