Long- and short-term effects of smothering and burial by drill cuttings on calcareous algae in a static-renewal test.

Discharge of drill cuttings into the ocean during drilling of offshore oil wells can impact benthic communities through an increase in the concentrations of suspended particles in the water column and sedimentation of particles on the seafloor around the drilling installation. The present study assessed effects of water-based drill cuttings, barite, bentonite, and natural sediments on shallow- and deep-water calcareous algae in short-term (30 d) and long-term (90 d) experiments, using 2 species from Peregrino's oil field at Campos Basin, Brazil: Mesophyllum engelhartii and Lithothamnion sp. The results were compared with the shallow-water species Lithothamnion crispatum.