Hydrocarbon contamination from coastal

PIERCE ET AL. Hydrocarbon Contamination from Coastal Development 231... 

This project was undertaken to identify petroleum hydrocarbon contcunination resulting from coastal development activities in the Charlotte Harbor estuarine system located on the Southwest Florida coast (Figure 1). The overall goal was to assess present petroleum contamination emd to provide baseline data to prove the extent and duration of additional impact from future coastal development and oil spills. 

Characterization of petroleum contamination from certain land use activities and frcxn biogenic sources has provided information for assessing impact from continued coastal development activities and to assess the duration and extent of impact in the event of a major oil spill in the areas studied. However, time series samples are needed to establish rates of hydrocarbon input and degradation. 

Cationic contaminants may emanate from many sources. Metals, such as iron and copper, in system components may ionize due to corrosion exchange with protons in the membrane. Metallic salts, such as sodium and calcium, may enter the fuel cell from coastal water or from deicing agents. The most likely source of cationic contaminants is from the fuel line. Hydrogen from reformed hydrocarbons usually contain parts per million (ppm) of ammonia. This ammonia can be oxidized to ammonium ions and enter the polymer electrolyte. 

Leoni [366] observed that in the extraction preconcentration of organochlo-rine insecticides and PCB s from surface and coastal waters in the presence of other pollutants such as oil, surface active substances, etc., the results obtained with an absorption column of Tenax-Celite are equivalent to those obtained with the continuous liquid-liquid extraction technique. For non-saline waters that contain solids in suspension that absorb pesticides, it may be necessary to filter the water before extraction with Tenax and then to extract the suspended solids separately. Analyses of river and estuarine sea waters, filtered before extraction, showed the effectiveness of Tenax, and the extracts obtained for pesticide analysis prove to be much less contaminated by interfering substances than corresponding extracts obtained by the liquid-liquid technique. Leoni et al. [365] showed that for the extraction of organic micro pollutants such as pesticides and aromatic polycyclic hydrocarbons from waters, the recoveries of these substances from unpolluted waters (mineral and potable waters) when added at the level of 1 xg/l averaged 90%. 

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. 

Akcha F, Izuel C, Venier P, Budzinski H, Burgeot T, Narbonne JF (2000) Enzymatic biomarker measurement and study of DNA adduct formation in benzo[a]pyrene-contaminated mussels, Mytilus galloprovincialis. Aquat Toxicol 49 269-287 Amin OA, Comoglio LI, Sericano JL (2011) Polynuclear aromatic and chlorinated hydrocarbons in mussels from the coastal zone of Ushuaia, Tierra Del Fuego, Argentina. Environ Toxicol Chem 30 521-529... 

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