Nutrient and Oxygen Concentrations within the Sediments of an Alaskan Beach Polluted with the <i>Exxon Valdez</i> Oil Spill

Boufadel, Michel C.; Sharifi, Youness; Aken, Benoı̂t Van; Wrenn, Brian A.; Lee, Kenneth

doi:10.1021/es102046n

Cited by 78 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Field studies in contaminated marshes and beach sediments, have demonstrated a wide range of biodegradation rates; oil biodegraded almost completely within a few weeks at some locations while it persisted for tens of years at other locations (Reddy et al, 2002;Short et al, 2004). Boufadel et al, (2010) noted low oxygen and nutrient concentration that might have prevented effective biodegradation of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The study of Li and Boufadel (2010) highlighted that understanding beach hydraulics is a critical step in predicting the fate of oil within beaches.…”

Section: Longer-term Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Macondo Canyon 252 Oil (Naturally and Chemically Dispersed) on LarvalCrassostrea virginica(Gmelin, 1791)

Laramore

Krebs²,

Garr³

2014

Journal of Shellfish Research

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Section: Longer-term Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Macondo Canyon 252 Oil (Naturally and Chemically Dispersed) on LarvalCrassostrea virginica(Gmelin, 1791)

Laramore

Krebs²,

Garr³

2014

Journal of Shellfish Research

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“…They also found that oil is present in the transect with the smaller fresh groundwater flow (flowing seaward). Boufadel et al (2010) and Sharifi et al (2010) confirmed the presence of low concentration of oxygen and nutrients which thus could be the limiting factor for oil biodegradation. Taylor and Reimer (2008) reported that sites with the most extensive visibly recorded subsurface oil residues were on Smith Island, Knight Island, and Eleanor Island.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Beach geomorphic factors for the persistence of subsurface oil from the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska

Xia

Boufadel

2011

Environ Monit Assess

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Oil from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill persists in some of the Prince William Sound (Alaska) beaches and continues to be a potential threat to the fauna. This paper reports a field investigation during the summer of 2008 of groundwater flow and solute transport in a tidal gravel beach in Smith Island, Prince William Sound. The beach contains oil on one side, the left side (facing landward). Field measurements of water table, salinity, and tracer (lithium) concentration were obtained for an approximate duration of 64 h for two transects, the oiled transect and a clean transect (the right transect). It was found that the hydraulic conductivity and the fresh groundwater recharge into the two transects were similar. It was also found that the beach slope of the mid to high tidal zone along the oiled (left) transect was ~7.4% which is considerably smaller than that of the clean (right) transect (~11.8%). This suggests a higher flushing/replenishing of the right transect with nutrients and/or oxygen, which would have enhanced biodegradation of oil on the right transect if that oil was not washed by waves. We also found that the degree of oiling at each location was inversely dependent on the armoring of the beach surface with clasts and boulders. The applied tracer concentration at the left transect was less than 2% of the source or close to the background level at all locations except a seaward well closest to the applied location, indicating that the tracer applied was diluted or washed out from the beach during the application. Thus, in situations where oil biodegradation is limited by the availability of nutrients and/or dissolved oxygen, applying the chemicals on the beach surface would most likely not enhance oil biodegradation as the applied chemicals would be greatly diluted prior to reaching the oil. Thus, deep injection of nutrients and/or dissolved oxygen is probably the only option for enhancing oil biodegradation.

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“…Robinson et al (2007bRobinson et al ( , 2009) and Li et al (2004) introduced that USP is not only an active mixing zone with a relatively fast flow rate and short seawater residence time but also an oxygen-rich zone that enhances the biodegradation rate of pollutants. The importance of oxygen concentration on biodegradation and hydrodynamic behaviors in coastal aquifer systems had been reported by Boufadel et al (2010) and Geng et al (2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Effects of hydrogeological properties on sea-derived benzene transport in unconfined coastal aquifers

Tsai

et al. 2016

Environ Monit Assess

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This paper presents numerical investigations on quantifying the hydrodynamic effects of coastal environment factors, including tidal fluctuations, beach slopes, hydraulic conductivity, and hydraulic gradients on sea-derived benzene transport in unconfined coastal aquifers. A hydrologic transport and mixed geochemical kinetic/equilibrium reactions in saturated-unsaturated media model was used to simulate the spatial and temporal behaviors of the density flow and benzene transport for various hydrogeological conditions. Simulation results indicated that the tidal fluctuations lead to upper saline plumes (USPs) near the groundwater and seawater interfaces. Such local circulation zones trapped the seaward benzene plumes and carried them down in aquifers to the depth depending on the tide amplitudes and beach slopes across the coastal lines. Comparisons based on different tidal fluctuations, beach slopes, hydraulic conductivity, and hydraulic gradient were systematically conducted and quantified. The results indicated that areas with USPs increased with the tidal amplitude and decreased with the increasing beach slope. However, the variation of hydraulic conductivity and hydraulic gradient has relatively small influence on the patterns of flow fields in the study. The increase of the USP depths was linearly correlated with the increase of the tidal amplitudes. The benzene reactive transport simulations revealed that the plume migrations are mainly controlled by the local flow dynamics and constrained in the USP circulation zones. The self-cleaning process of a coastal aquifer is time-consuming, typically requiring double the time of the contamination process that the benzene plume reach the bottom of a USP circulation zone. The presented systematic analysis can provide useful information for rapidly evaluating seaward contaminants along a coastal line with available hydrogeological properties.

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Nutrient and Oxygen Concentrations within the Sediments of an Alaskan Beach Polluted with the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Cited by 78 publications

References 25 publications

Effects of Macondo Canyon 252 Oil (Naturally and Chemically Dispersed) on LarvalCrassostrea virginica(Gmelin, 1791)

Effects of Macondo Canyon 252 Oil (Naturally and Chemically Dispersed) on LarvalCrassostrea virginica(Gmelin, 1791)

Beach geomorphic factors for the persistence of subsurface oil from the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska

Effects of hydrogeological properties on sea-derived benzene transport in unconfined coastal aquifers

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