SOURCE IDENTIFICATION OF AN OIL SPILL ON TRINIDAD'S EAST COAST

1989 ◽  
Vol 1989 (1) ◽  
pp. 555-562
Author(s):  
Ahmad A. Khan ◽  
Ivan Chang-Yen ◽  
Lutchminarine Chatergoon
Keyword(s):  
East Coast ◽  
Chemical Characterization ◽  
Beach Sand ◽  
Probability Match ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Oil Companies ◽  
Statistical Pattern ◽  
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometry ◽  
Magnetic Resonance Spectrometry ◽  
Chip Chip

ABSTRACT In April 1986, a large quantity of unrefined crude oil was released into the nearshore marine environment on Trinidad's east coast. The oil was observed to have affected approximately 20 kilometers of coastline. Physical examination of the oil collected revealed that it had the appearance of a light grade crude, was golden brown in color, and had a characteristic gassy odor. Also observed was a mass mortality of the bivalve Donax sp (chip-chip), which inhabits sandy areas of the intertidal zone. Oil was extracted from samples of water, beach sand, and chip-chip collected from selected stations along the affected area. Also collected were samples of oil from possible sources located both offshore and at land-based facilities. Chemical characterization of the oil extracts, using capillary gas chromatography, atomic absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy, and carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, yielded data sets that distinguished the oils in the environment from the suspect source oils investigated. Application of statistical pattern recognition techniques, utilizing a hierarchical clustering procedure, to data from both environmental and suspect source samples yielded a high probability match between the spill samples and samples from one of the two oil companies operating in the area.

The mineralogy and firing behaviour of pottery clays of the Lake Van region, eastern Turkey

Clay Minerals ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 453-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Aras ◽  
S. Kiliç
Keyword(s):  
East Coast ◽  
Chemical Characterization ◽  
Mineralogical Composition ◽  
Lake Van ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
Pottery Production ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Firing Shrinkage

AbstractThe present study focused on the mineralogical and chemical characterization and firing behaviour of clays from the Lake Van region and compared them with the same characteristics established for two ancient pot sherds. Four pottery clays collected from Kutki and Kuşluk in the Kesan Valley to the south, from Kavakbaşı to the southwest and from Bardakçı village on the east coast of Lake Van were analysed by X-ray diffraction to identify mineralogical composition (bulk clays and <2 μm fractions after heating at 300–500°C and ethylene glycol solvation). Further analyses were conducted to determine the size distribution, chemical composition and physical properties of test bodies derived from these clays. The in situ weathered schist forming the primary micaceous red clays which are suitable for local pottery production are characterized by large muscovite-sericite-illite and small calcite contents. In contrast, the Bardakçı clays are dominated by large smectite contents and are only used sparingly in mixtures of local pottery production because they undergo firing shrinkage and present drying and firing flaws in the fired bodies. Firing ranges of ~800–900°C were inferred from the mineralogy and colours of the two ancient sherds from Kutki. As a result of mineralogical analysis of fired and unfired test bodies of these pottery clays and pot sherds, two different types of pastes were determined for pottery production in the Lake Van region: metamorphic and volcanic paste, the former characterized by a calcite-poor and mica-sericite-rich matrix and the latter by large smectite and small calcite contents.

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