Scholarly record

LONG-TERM WEATHERING OF FUEL OIL SPILLED FROM THE TANKER "ERIKA" ON THE ATLANTIC COAST OF FRANCE

A Kuznetsov

Abstract

The paper examines the results of a series of field observations carried out on the Atlantic coasts of France polluted by heavy fuel oil spilled due the accident of the tanker ?Erika? in December 1999. The aim of these observations is to determine the rates of the spilled fuel oil natural degradation and to consider their relationship with principal environmental factors. It is a part of a larger-scale research being performed on geographically different oiled seacoasts in France, Spain, and Russia. In France, eight campaigns of field research were undertaken in the period from 2004 to 2017. Special attention was paid to the most severely affected Cape Croisic and Noirmoutier Island (Pays de la Loire Region). On the studied coasts 74 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 in March 2017, i.e. 17 years after the spill, its traces were 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 weathering process. The half-period of this diminution calculated on the basis of n-order kinetic equation (with n = 2.72) varies from 274 to 395 days depending on geographical conditions as well as quantities and forms of fuel oil accumulations.

Publication details

Back to publication list