Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Use of a forensic geochemical technique and a hydrogeological assessment to determine the source of petroleum hydrocarbon contamination at a foreshore site in Korea

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Environmental Earth Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Investigations undertaken in 2013 at a foreshore site that was historically used for ship repairs in Korea indicated that soil and groundwater were contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons over an area of 10,000 m2. Groundwater investigations and modelling were undertaken to determine the characteristics of aquifers beneath the site, including the direction and rate of groundwater flow and the extent of dispersion of total petroleum hydrocarbon contamination. To identify petroleum products residing in contaminated soils, the hump of an unresolved complex mixture on the baseline found in the data of gas chromatography was used as a new method. Based on objective facts obtained from basic investigation, the current state of contamination, and discrimination of oil species, the polluter as specified in the Korean Soil Environment Conservation Act was identified.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeong Jun Park.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Park, J.J., Kim, H.J. Use of a forensic geochemical technique and a hydrogeological assessment to determine the source of petroleum hydrocarbon contamination at a foreshore site in Korea. Environ Earth Sci 77, 742 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-018-7928-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-018-7928-y

Keywords

Navigation