The persistence and character of stranded oil on coarse-sediment beaches
详细信息 查看全文
- 作者：Edward H. Owens ; Elliott Taylor ; Blair Humphrey
- 关键词：Oil spills ; Oil persistence ; Coarse-sediment beaches ; T/V Exxon Valdez ; T/V Arrow ; T/V Metula ; Baffin Island Oil Spill (BIOS) experiment
- 刊名：Marine Pollution Bulletin
- 出版年：2008
- 出版时间：January 2008
- 年：2008
- 卷：56
- 期：1
- 页码：14-26
- 全文大小：1063 K
文摘
Small amounts of oil that can persist for decades in the intertidal zone of coarse-sediment beaches have been documented in a few well-studied cases. Oil that survives attenuation over the short-term (weeks to months) will persist until there is a change in the environmental conditions, as might occur where there is a seasonal storm-wave climate or as a beach undergoes long-term (erosional) changes. Oil residues can persist on the beach surface as tar mats, asphalt-like pavements, or as veneers on sediment particles or hard surfaces. Subsurface oil residues can persist in similar forms or as fill or partial fill of the pore spaces between coarse-sediment particles. Oil penetrates until it reaches fine-grained sediment, the water table, bedrock, or other penetration-limiting layers. Amounts of persistent oil are very small fractions of the volumes that were originally stranded and these protected residues can continue to biodegrade as they become thinner and more discontinuous.