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NATURAL DESTRUCTION OF SPILLED FUEL OIL FROM THE -PRESTIGE- TANKER ON THE GALICIAN COASTS OF SPAIN

A Kuznetsov

Abstract

The paper examines the results of field observations carried out on the Galician coasts of Spain hardly polluted in 2002 by fuel oil spilled from the sunken ?Prestige? tanker in order to determine the rates of the pollutant natural destruction and to consider their relationship with principal environmental factors. It is a part of a large-scale research being performed on geographically different oiled seacoasts in France, Spain and Russia. In Galicia, the observations were undertaken in October 2012, November 2014 and March 2017. Special attention was paid to the most severely affected Cape Finisterre and adjacent areas. On the studied coasts 36 samples of weathered fuel oil traces were taken and analyzed with the use of thin-layer and column chromatography coupled with infrared and ultraviolet photometry, luminescent and gravimetric methods. The results show that even 14 years after the spill its traces are still present in the coastal zone. Over time the oil slicks demonstrate a steady diminution in their size, number and in the ratio of labile hydrocarbons content to conservative asphaltic components content as a result of self-cleaning process. The half-period of this diminution varies from 158 to 204 days depending on the geographical conditions as well as quantities and forms of fuel oil accumulations.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgem2018/5.1/s20.074

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