SELF-CLEANING CAPACITY OF SEACOASTS IN CASE OF OIL POLLUTION

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrey Kuznetsov ◽  
Andrey Kuznetsov ◽  
Yury Fedorov ◽  
Yury Fedorov ◽  
Paul Fattal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Oil Pollution ◽  
Fuel Oil ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Sediment Types ◽  
Seawater Salinity ◽  
Self Cleaning ◽  
Joint Examination ◽  
Tanker Accidents

The sea coasts are especially exposed to the oil pollution harmful influence as they frequently suffer from oil spills relating to the tanker accidents, port and off-shore activities. The objective of the present research is to examine the rates of spilled fuel oil natural destruction on geographically different seacoasts and to evaluate their relationship with principal environmental factors such as climatic and hydrological conditions, coast exposure and geomorphology, sediment types, intensity of biogeochemical cycles. For this purpose, a number of contaminated sectors of the Atlantic coasts of France and Spain (areas of “Erika” and “Prestige” tanker accidents), the Strait of Kerch (“Volgoneft-139” tanker accident) and the Black Sea coast in Russia (area of Novorossiysk sea port) were studied. Long-term (from 6 to 15 years) field observations were carried out there. The oiled samples were analyzed with the use of thin layer and column chromatography, optical and gravimetric methods. The results show that in the course of time, the oil slicks demonstrate an exponential diminution in their size, number and in the ratio of labile hydrocarbons content to conservative asphaltic components content. The half-period of this diminution varies from less than 1 to 12 years, subject to the forms of fuel oil traces and geographical conditions. On the Strait of Kerch coast washed by shallow, slightly salted and highly bio-productive waters of the Sea of Azov the spilled fuel oil tends to disappear twice as rapidly as on French and Spanish coasts of the Atlantic Ocean. The joint examination of the observed rates of oil pollution natural destruction and the geographical conditions of studied sites shows that temperature and seawater salinity are the crucial environmental factors of self-cleaning process.

SELF-CLEANING CAPACITY OF SEACOASTS IN CASE OF OIL POLLUTION

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrey Kuznetsov ◽  
Andrey Kuznetsov ◽  
Yury Fedorov ◽  
Yury Fedorov ◽  
Paul Fattal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Oil Pollution ◽  
Fuel Oil ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Sediment Types ◽  
Seawater Salinity ◽  
Self Cleaning ◽  
Joint Examination ◽  
Tanker Accidents

The sea coasts are especially exposed to the oil pollution harmful influence as they frequently suffer from oil spills relating to the tanker accidents, port and off-shore activities. The objective of the present research is to examine the rates of spilled fuel oil natural destruction on geographically different seacoasts and to evaluate their relationship with principal environmental factors such as climatic and hydrological conditions, coast exposure and geomorphology, sediment types, intensity of biogeochemical cycles. For this purpose, a number of contaminated sectors of the Atlantic coasts of France and Spain (areas of “Erika” and “Prestige” tanker accidents), the Strait of Kerch (“Volgoneft-139” tanker accident) and the Black Sea coast in Russia (area of Novorossiysk sea port) were studied. Long-term (from 6 to 15 years) field observations were carried out there. The oiled samples were analyzed with the use of thin layer and column chromatography, optical and gravimetric methods. The results show that in the course of time, the oil slicks demonstrate an exponential diminution in their size, number and in the ratio of labile hydrocarbons content to conservative asphaltic components content. The half-period of this diminution varies from less than 1 to 12 years, subject to the forms of fuel oil traces and geographical conditions. On the Strait of Kerch coast washed by shallow, slightly salted and highly bio-productive waters of the Sea of Azov the spilled fuel oil tends to disappear twice as rapidly as on French and Spanish coasts of the Atlantic Ocean. The joint examination of the observed rates of oil pollution natural destruction and the geographical conditions of studied sites shows that temperature and seawater salinity are the crucial environmental factors of self-cleaning process.

Analyses of Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Intertidal Sediments Resulting from Two Spills of No. 2 Fuel Oil in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts

1978 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 510-520 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Teal ◽  
Kathryn Burns ◽  
John Farrington
Keyword(s):  
Gas Chromatography ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Aromatic Hydrocarbons ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Oil Pollution ◽  
Fuel Oil ◽  
Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Glass Capillary ◽  
Marsh Sediments ◽  
Insight Into

We have analyzed the two- and three-ring aromatic hydrocarbons from the Wild Harbor oil spill in September 1969 and the Winsor Cove oil spill in October 1974, in intertidal marsh sediments, using glass capillary gas-chromatographic and mass-fragmentographic analyses. Naphthalenes with 0–3 alkyl substitutions and phenanthrenes with 0–2 substitutions decreased in concentration with time in surface sediments. The more substituted aromatics decreased relatively less and in some cases actually increased in absolute concentration. The changes in composition of the aromatic fraction have potential consequences for the ecosystem and provide insight into geochemical processes of oil weathering. Key words: oil pollution, aromatic hydrocarbons; gas chromatography; gas chromatography–mass spectrometry; geochemistry; marsh; sediments; oil spills

scholarly journals Tropical Storm Agnes Pennsylvania's Torrey Canyon

1973 ◽  
Vol 1973 (1) ◽  
pp. 569-577
Author(s):  
Robert Kaiser ◽  
Donald Jones ◽  
Howard Lamp'l
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Oil Pollution ◽  
Petroleum Products ◽  
Tropical Storm ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Fuel Oil ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Middle Atlantic ◽  
Schuylkill River

ABSTRACT This paper presents the “Agnes Story” disaster as related to the largest inland oil spill experienced in the history of the U.S. and actions taken by EPA in coping with the problem. Contrasted to the massive oceanic spill of the TORREY CANYON, other major ship oil pollution disasters, the Santa Barbara and Gulf of Mexico offshore platform oil spills, the oil pollution resulting from the flooding produced by Tropical Storm Agnes required unprecedented actions by many governmental agencies. The inland rivers of the Middle Atlantic area experienced spills of petroleum products ranging from over 3,000,000 gallons of No. 2 fuel oil, gasoline and kerosene from storage tanks in Big Flats / Elmira, N.Y. (just north of the Pennsylvania border) to 6,000,000–8,000,000 gallons of black, highly metallic waste oil and sludge from an oil reclamation plant on the Schuylkill River. The aftermath of this gigantic inland oil spill was oil and gasoline soaked fields, oil coated trees, farm houses, homes, factories, an airport, and hundreds of stranded oil puddles, ponds and lagoons as the rivers receded to normal levels. The record setting flood stage along several miles of both the Schuylkill and Susquehanna Rivers and their tributaries was recorded vividly ashore on trees and buildings as if by a black grease pencil, drawing attention to the most widespread property damage suffered from the most devastating storm in recorded U.S. history. Cleanup of the spilled oil in the midst of other rescue and restorative actions by Federal, State and Municipal agencies was fraught with emergency response problems including: identification of major impact points, availability of resources for response actions, coordination of response actions, activation of cleanup contractors, meeting administrative requirements, and the structure for making command decisions. Along with these requirements were technical decisions to be made concerning methods of physical removal procedures, containment systems, chemical treating agents and, very importantly, protecting and restoring the environment. Major spill effects and significant cleanup operations, problems encountered, and lessons learned are presented so that future responses can be better and more efficiently dealt with in an inland oil spill disaster comparable to the “Agnes Oil Spill”.

scholarly journals THE USE OF SURFACE DRIFTING FLOATS IN THE MONITORING OF OIL SPILLS. THE PRESTIGE CASE

2005 ◽  
Vol 2005 (1) ◽  
pp. 613-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilio García-Ladona ◽  
Jordi Font ◽  
Evilio del Río ◽  
Agustí Julià ◽  
Jordi Salat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spills ◽  
Oil Pollution ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Fuel Oil ◽  
Heavy Fuel Oil ◽  
The Past ◽  
The North ◽  
Wave Forecast ◽  
The Prestige

ABSTRACT On November 13th, 2002 the 26 year old tanker Prestige reported an emergency off the North Western Spanish coast (Galicia). The ship was carrying 77,000 tons of heavy fuel oil that started to be spilled while the vessel was towed away from the coast, affecting more than 900 km of shoreline. The location and the way the accident occurred implied a great challenge for the organization and coordinaton of actions to fight against the oil pollution. The site, just off the Finis terre cap, is a complex region from the oceanographic point of view and weather conditions, and this facilitated the fuel transport and spread over a great area. In order to take rapid preventive actions, it was crucial to have accurate spill trajectory forecasts covering direction and coastal impact. Under the coordination of public agencies and Spanish academic and research institutions, an operational monitoring system was built including wind and wave forecast, oil spill dispersion models, and visual inspection flights. Although the use of lagrangian floats was made in other incidents in the past (i.e Erika tanker) the characteristics of the Prestige accident indicated the need to deploy a relative great number of buoys as a major novelty respect to similar accidents in the past. The purpose of this contribution is to describe the operational actions performed during this particular accident, and to show the use of Lagrangian floats as an efficient procedure to improve the management and advice for such catastrophic events.

Oil Spill Risks from Nontank Vessels1

2001 ◽  
Vol 2001 (1) ◽  
pp. 263-266
Author(s):  
Jean R. Cameron
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
West Coast ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Oil Pollution ◽  
The United States ◽  
Fuel Oil ◽  
Emergency Plan ◽  
Heavy Fuel Oil ◽  
Design Elements ◽  
The U.S

ABSTRACT An issue of increasing concern worldwide is that of oil spills from nontank vessels that carry large quantities of petroleum product as fuel or lubricants. The New Carissa incident in Oregon in 1999 is only one of several that have impacted the U.S. West Coast in the last few years. Others include the M/V Kuroshima, which grounded in Dutch Harbor, Alaska in 1997, and the M/V Kure, which spilled oil in Humbolt Bay also in 1997. The Tenyo Maru was cut in half in a collision and sank with the loss of one life and a spill of at least 100,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil and diesel in Washington State in 1991. Additional examples of both spills and threats of spills are sited, both in the United States and worldwide. This paper examines a number of actions that have been taken in response to this threat. One such model is the Canadian requirement that vessel owner/operators demonstrate a formal agreement with an approved response contractor, and list that contractor in their Shipboard Oil Pollution Emergency Plan (SOPEP). A more comprehensive approach would be to establish approved “umbrella” contingency plans for major port areas, supported by contracts with oil spill removal organizations (OSROs). This preferred model has been adopted by the U.S. West Coast states, and affords the opportunity for the contracted responders to drill with emergency response officials, thus improving the likelihood of an efficient, coordinated spill response. This paper also proposes spill prevention design elements for nontank vessels.

scholarly journals Numerical Modelling of Oil Spills in the Area of Kvarner and Rijeka Bay (The Northern Adriatic Sea)

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Goran Lončar ◽  
Gordana Beg Paklar ◽  
Ivica Janeković
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Adriatic Sea ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Oil Pollution ◽  
Winter Season ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Summer Season ◽  
Winter Period ◽  
Northern Adriatic ◽  
Tanker Accidents

Several hypothetical cases of oil spills from tankers in the Kvarner and Rijeka Bay were analyzed using three-dimensional circulation models coupled with oil spill model. Two circulation models—local one covering the area of Kvarner Bay, Rijeka Bay, and Vinodol channel along with the basin-wide one covering the whole Adriatic Sea—are connected through the one-way nesting procedure by imposing the results from the Adriatic model to the open boundaries of the local one. Oil spill model relays on the current fields obtained by the local circulation model during all our simulations. Spreading of the oil pollution from three hypothetical positions of tanker accidents in the local model domain was simulated for the periods of 10 “winter-season” and “summer-season” days. The oil spill model results show that the hypothetical tanker accidents in the center of the Rijeka Bay are the most dangerous for the studied area in both seasons. Summer-season case shows significantly worse situation from the ecological point of view, oil spills spread on the larger area simply because stratification and mixing present during the winter period reduce oil slick effect.

Estimation of Shoreline Response Cost Factors

2003 ◽  
Vol 2003 (1) ◽  
pp. 1243-1253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dagmar Schmidt Etkin
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spills ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Fuel Oil ◽  
Sediment Type ◽  
Response Cost ◽  
Heavy Fuel Oil ◽  
Response Data ◽  
Sediment Types ◽  
Oil Spill Cleanup ◽  
Cost Factors

ABSTRACT Data analyses on shoreline responses to two major US oil spills were analyzed to derive preliminary factors for estimating shoreline cleanup costs based on oiling degree, sediment type, labor and equipment requirements, and disposal costs. Per-unit area cost factors are calculated for marsh cleanup of a heavy fuel oil spill. Cleanup of heavily oiled areas cost an average of $lll/m2 for labor, equipment, and waste disposal, while lightly oiled areas cost an average of $5/m2. Worker-day requirements for cleanup of crude oil from a variety of sediment types from rocky to sand (by length) were calculated. Additional analyses are required to extrapolate equipment and disposal costs for development of sediment- and oiling-specific cost factors from this data. Further analyses on this and other spill response data are required to develop comprehensive shoreline response cost factors as part of the development of a methodology to estimate response costs for evaluating cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses.

scholarly journals Oil Pollution Affects the Central Metabolism of Keystone Vachellia (Acacia) Trees

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6660
Author(s):  
Marco Ferrante ◽  
Anuma Dangol ◽  
Shoshana Didi-Cohen ◽  
Gidon Winters ◽  
Vered Tzin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spills ◽  
Oil Pollution ◽  
Keystone Species ◽  
Desert Ecosystem ◽  
Arid Environments ◽  
Central Metabolism ◽  
Adult Trees ◽  
Metabolite Profiles ◽  
One Year

Vachellia (formerly Acacia) trees are native to arid environments in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, where they often support the local animal and plant communities acting as keystone species. The aim of this study was to examine whether oil pollution affected the central metabolism of the native keystone trees Vachellia tortilis (Forssk.) and V. raddiana (Savi), as either adults or seedlings. The study was conducted in the Evrona Nature Reserve, a desert ecosystem in southern Israel where two major oil spills occurred in 1975 and in 2014. Leaf samples were collected to analyze the central metabolite profiles from oil-polluted and unpolluted adult trees and from Vachellia seedlings growing in oil-polluted and unpolluted soils in an outdoor setup. We found that oil pollution had a stronger effect on one-year-old seedlings than on adult trees, reducing the levels of amino acids, sugars, and organic acids. While adult trees are mildly affected by oil pollution, the effects on young seedlings can cause a long-term reduction in the population of these keystone desert trees, ultimately threatening this entire ecosystem.

Compulsory civil liability insurance, financial security: An integral component of compensation for ship-source oil pollution damage

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 435-441
Author(s):  
Pham Van Tan
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Oil Pollution ◽  
Civil Liability ◽  
Economic Loss ◽  
Liability Insurance ◽  
Financial Security ◽  
Pollution Damage ◽  
Significant Harm ◽  
Oil Tankers

Oil pollution damage caused by oil spills at sea generally occurs on a large scale across numerous regions and countries, causing significant harm to marine ecosystems as well as worldwide economic loss. The costs are so severe in many instances that the owner of the ship responsible for the pollution cannot afford to pay compensation to those who have suffered loss. As a consequence, the need to cover oil pollution damages has given rise to compulsory liability insurance, which provides a financial guarantee against the costs of oil spills. Compulsory civil liability insurance has therefore become an indispensable part of the liability regime for owners of oil tankers and bunkers.

scholarly journals Characterization of microbial response to petroleum hydrocarbon contamination in a lacustrine ecosystem

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilio D’Ugo ◽  
Milena Bruno ◽  
Arghya Mukherjee ◽  
Dhrubajyoti Chattopadhyay ◽  
Roberto Giuseppetti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Petroleum Hydrocarbon ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Oil Pollution ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Hydrocarbon Contamination ◽  
Petroleum Hydrocarbon Contamination ◽  
Microbial Response ◽  
Pollution Event ◽  
Hydrocarbonoclastic Potential

AbstractMicrobiomes of freshwater basins intended for human use remain poorly studied, with very little known about the microbial response to in situ oil spills. Lake Pertusillo is an artificial freshwater reservoir in Basilicata, Italy, and serves as the primary source of drinking water for more than one and a half million people in the region. Notably, it is located in close proximity to one of the largest oil extraction plants in Europe. The lake suffered a major oil spill in 2017, where approximately 400 tons of crude oil spilled into the lake; importantly, the pollution event provided a rare opportunity to study how the lacustrine microbiome responds to petroleum hydrocarbon contamination. Water samples were collected from Lake Pertusillo 10 months prior to and 3 months after the accident. The presence of hydrocarbons was verified and the taxonomic and functional aspects of the lake microbiome were assessed. The analysis revealed specialized successional patterns of lake microbial communities that were potentially capable of degrading complex, recalcitrant hydrocarbons, including aromatic, chloroaromatic, nitroaromatic, and sulfur containing aromatic hydrocarbons. Our findings indicated that changes in the freshwater microbial community were associated with the oil pollution event, where microbial patterns identified in the lacustrine microbiome 3 months after the oil spill were representative of its hydrocarbonoclastic potential and may serve as effective proxies for lacustrine oil pollution.

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