Source identification and distribution of petroleum hydrocarbons in soil and sediments of The Northern Persian Gulf Coast

The purpose of this study is to use environmental fingerprinting technique and to identify oil spills and their relationship with the oil derived from known oil fields. This is the first comprehensive study on PAHs and n-alkanes distribution as oil spill markers in the Persian Gulf to investigate pe...

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Main Author: Valizadehkakhki, Fatemeh
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2013
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Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/68383/1/fpas%202013%2017%20ir.pdf
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spelling my-upm-ir.683832019-05-15T04:57:07Z Source identification and distribution of petroleum hydrocarbons in soil and sediments of The Northern Persian Gulf Coast 2013-05 Valizadehkakhki, Fatemeh The purpose of this study is to use environmental fingerprinting technique and to identify oil spills and their relationship with the oil derived from known oil fields. This is the first comprehensive study on PAHs and n-alkanes distribution as oil spill markers in the Persian Gulf to investigate petroleum contamination in soil and sediment in the three regions identified as sources of oil and gas. Soil and sediment from three provinces in the northern Gulf has been selected. Soil samples (0-10 cm) were collected from rural land, industrial, urban, and agriculture. Sediment samples were collected from intertidal area, 3 offshore and 2 rivers samples were collected. Intertidal sediment was collected using stainless steel spoon from 5 top cm. Offshore sediment samples were collected using VanVeen grab from 10 km into the Gulf. The results indicated that Total PAHs range between 42.76 to 5596.4 ng.g-1 for rural soils, 460 to 1730.4 ng.g-1 for industrial soil, 165.6 to 3442.3 ng.g-1 for urban soil and 57.3 to 3633.5 ng.g-1 for agricultural soils. Polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons in rural area showed higher concentration than other stations and it is associated with petrogenic input as these sites are located near oil fields and oil transferring pipelines. In addition, the concentrations for sediment showed that TPH is from 184.5 to 2771.8 ng.g-1 dry weight. Analysis of the results and application of biomarker ratios such as MP/P ratio showed that the main source of PAHs input is petrogenic sources. Consequently, most of the pollution in the sampling region belonged to oil spill, crude oil and petroleum products. On the other hand, analysis of the n-alkanes revealed there was principally higher molecular weight and even carbon numbers. Therefore, it indicates that the major contribution of the n-alkanes are related to crude oil and petroleum products and it is not derived from biogenic sources as the number of odd carbon is very low. Additionally, high vanadium concentration reflects an oil spill background to the area, since vanadium is the major heavy metal constituent of crude oil. To conclude, analysis of all components illustrated that contamination in the mentioned region is derived from direct inputs of petroleum products and crude oil to the land and Gulf. Hence, monitoring and long-term investigation to produce a reference profile is a practical tool to verify the contribution of anthropogenic compounds to this environment. Hydrocarbons - Toxicology Oil pollution of the sea Oil pollution of soils - Environmental aspects - Persian Gulf Coast (Persian Gulf States) 2013-05 Thesis http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/68383/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/68383/1/fpas%202013%2017%20ir.pdf text en public doctoral Universiti Putra Malaysia Hydrocarbons - Toxicology Oil pollution of the sea Oil pollution of soils - Environmental aspects - Persian Gulf Coast (Persian Gulf States)
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
collection PSAS Institutional Repository
language English
topic Hydrocarbons - Toxicology
Oil pollution of the sea
Oil pollution of soils - Environmental aspects - Persian Gulf Coast (Persian Gulf States)
spellingShingle Hydrocarbons - Toxicology
Oil pollution of the sea
Oil pollution of soils - Environmental aspects - Persian Gulf Coast (Persian Gulf States)
Valizadehkakhki, Fatemeh
Source identification and distribution of petroleum hydrocarbons in soil and sediments of The Northern Persian Gulf Coast
description The purpose of this study is to use environmental fingerprinting technique and to identify oil spills and their relationship with the oil derived from known oil fields. This is the first comprehensive study on PAHs and n-alkanes distribution as oil spill markers in the Persian Gulf to investigate petroleum contamination in soil and sediment in the three regions identified as sources of oil and gas. Soil and sediment from three provinces in the northern Gulf has been selected. Soil samples (0-10 cm) were collected from rural land, industrial, urban, and agriculture. Sediment samples were collected from intertidal area, 3 offshore and 2 rivers samples were collected. Intertidal sediment was collected using stainless steel spoon from 5 top cm. Offshore sediment samples were collected using VanVeen grab from 10 km into the Gulf. The results indicated that Total PAHs range between 42.76 to 5596.4 ng.g-1 for rural soils, 460 to 1730.4 ng.g-1 for industrial soil, 165.6 to 3442.3 ng.g-1 for urban soil and 57.3 to 3633.5 ng.g-1 for agricultural soils. Polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons in rural area showed higher concentration than other stations and it is associated with petrogenic input as these sites are located near oil fields and oil transferring pipelines. In addition, the concentrations for sediment showed that TPH is from 184.5 to 2771.8 ng.g-1 dry weight. Analysis of the results and application of biomarker ratios such as MP/P ratio showed that the main source of PAHs input is petrogenic sources. Consequently, most of the pollution in the sampling region belonged to oil spill, crude oil and petroleum products. On the other hand, analysis of the n-alkanes revealed there was principally higher molecular weight and even carbon numbers. Therefore, it indicates that the major contribution of the n-alkanes are related to crude oil and petroleum products and it is not derived from biogenic sources as the number of odd carbon is very low. Additionally, high vanadium concentration reflects an oil spill background to the area, since vanadium is the major heavy metal constituent of crude oil. To conclude, analysis of all components illustrated that contamination in the mentioned region is derived from direct inputs of petroleum products and crude oil to the land and Gulf. Hence, monitoring and long-term investigation to produce a reference profile is a practical tool to verify the contribution of anthropogenic compounds to this environment.
format Thesis
qualification_level Doctorate
author Valizadehkakhki, Fatemeh
author_facet Valizadehkakhki, Fatemeh
author_sort Valizadehkakhki, Fatemeh
title Source identification and distribution of petroleum hydrocarbons in soil and sediments of The Northern Persian Gulf Coast
title_short Source identification and distribution of petroleum hydrocarbons in soil and sediments of The Northern Persian Gulf Coast
title_full Source identification and distribution of petroleum hydrocarbons in soil and sediments of The Northern Persian Gulf Coast
title_fullStr Source identification and distribution of petroleum hydrocarbons in soil and sediments of The Northern Persian Gulf Coast
title_full_unstemmed Source identification and distribution of petroleum hydrocarbons in soil and sediments of The Northern Persian Gulf Coast
title_sort source identification and distribution of petroleum hydrocarbons in soil and sediments of the northern persian gulf coast
granting_institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
publishDate 2013
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/68383/1/fpas%202013%2017%20ir.pdf
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