Effects of sedimentation from water-based drill cuttings and natural sediment on benthic macrofaunal community structure and ecosystem processes

In this study, we aim at investigating the role of physical disturbance in effects of water-based drill cuttings on benthic ecosystems. Today, most of the cuttings discharged from oil and gas installations contain water-based drilling muds, rather than oil-based or synthetic muds. Drill cuttings with water-based muds are assumed to cause only marginal effects on the benthos, mainly resulting from sedimentation. However, this statement has not been experimentally tested, which is the purpose of the present work. Natural sediment particles and water-based drill cuttings were added to benthic communities in layer thicknesses of 3–24 mm in a mesocosm set-up. During the following 6 months, changes in benthic community structure and fluxes of oxygen and nutrients across the sediment water interface were studied. There was a significant reduction in number of taxa, abundance, biomass and diversity of macrofauna with increasing thickness of drill cuttings, which was not observed for the natural sediment particles. The drill cuttings also influenced oxygen consumption and oxygen penetration depth in the sediment, and it was concluded that an organic compound in the drill cuttings initiated a typical eutrophication response. Fluxes of phosphate and silicate were, however, similarly affected by the two types of particles, and maximum fluxes occurred in sediments treated with thin layers (3–6 mm) of particles. As the response of water-based drill cuttings in the present study was a result of factors other than physical disturbance, we recommend a reconsideration of the assumption that water-based drill cuttings only cause sedimentation (burial) effects.