Coastal Refining

Flux estimates related to the modern carbon cycle require refinement, particularly those involving coastal margin and other shoal-water area inputs and outputs. 

Many studies on aeolianites have been conducted in coastal locations in a wide range of climatic environments, but, as yet, there have been few detailed studies on the diagenetic processes operating under dryland conditions. Finally, models of diagenesis in the vadose zone need to be refined/ improved as they do not properly reflect the complexity of processes... 

The introduction of petroleum into the marine environment is a direct consequence of the production and transportation of crude oil and refined products. Oil spills have justifiably earned ill fame for polluting the environment by being responsible for some of the worst environmental disasters in (recent) human history. Oil spills jeopardize the dissolved oxygen-dependent aquatic life because the oil film acts as a barrier for oxygen transport across the air-water interface. Seabirds are unable to fly or even float on water once oil wets their feathers, thus leading to their untimely death. In addition to aesthetic and ecological concerns, coastal regions... 

The pollution of water and other matrices caused by the accidental leakage or chronic release of crude oil and refined products into the environment occurs each year. As the use and transportation of crude oil occurs on a large scale throughout the world, contamination of the environment with oil is an issue of concern. The amount of total hydrocarbons entering the oceans from all sources has been estimated at 2.35 million tons per year. Oil spills and hydrocarbons from land-based sources are usually limited to the coastal zone, but can be found even in the open oceans. 

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