Abstract
An experimental release of oil onto the water surface in a remote nearshore environment was allowed to strand on the adjacent beach. The intertidal and subtidal sediments were sampled over the following 4-year period to monitor the fate of the oil. Over this period the hydrocarbon concentrations in the nearshore subtidal sediments progressively increased as the volume of oil in the intertidal zone decreased. 15m3 of oil was initially released and 5.5m3 was recovered intentionally by skimming and an estimated 4.2m3 was lost immediately following the release to the atmosphere by evaporation and to the ocean by dispersion and dissolution. At the time of the last field survey an estimated 1.3m3 remained on the beach and 0.028m3 had accumulated in the subtidal sediments, with 4.0m3 having been removed from the shoreline and transported from the study area.
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© 1987 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht
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Owens, E.H., Humphrey, B., Sergy, G.A. (1987). The Migration of Stranded Oil from a Sheltered Beach into Adjacent Nearshore Subtidal Sediments. In: Kuiper, J., Van Den Brink, W.J. (eds) Fate and Effects of Oil in Marine Ecosystems. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3573-0_24
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3573-0_24
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