Oil Pollution
What is an Oil Spill?
• Release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon
into the environment
• Marine spills
– Oil is released into ocean or coastal waters
• crude oil, refined petroleum (gasoline or
diesel fuel)
Main Cause of Oil Spills
• Equipment breaking down
– Tankers, barges, pipelines, refiners, and oil
storage facilities
• Natural disasters-
– Hurricanes, seep up from ocean floor
• Man mad reasons-
– Car oil, routine maintenance
Major Oil Spills
• Pose a danger to public health, devastate natural
resources, disrupt economy
• Bay of Campeche of Cuidad del Carmen, Mexico. (1997)
– The accident resulted in spilling of 140 million gallons
of oil
• Northwest Spain (2002)
– Tanker split in two
– 70,000 tons of oil
• Exxon Valdez
– 1989
– 11 million gallons were spilled
• 300-400 spills in Alaska
Effects of Oil Spills
• Marine Contamination
– Contaminated sea surface, unpleasant smells
and tastes to aquatic life, death
• Impair ability to reproduce, grow, feed
• Contaminates Rocks, sand, and mud areas
• Oil covered fur or feathers can’t insulate
– Oil breaks down a bird’s waterproofing
– Animals clean itself, swallow oil
Methods of Cleaning
• Bioremediation- use of microorganisms to
break down oil
• Burning, dredging, skimming
• Dispersants- act as detergent
• Take months or years to clean up
• Collection centers
Resources
• http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_PLANET/HTML/peril_oil_polluti
on.html#SOURCES
• http://oceanlink.island.net/oceanmatters/oil%20pollution.html
• http://www.riverdeep.net/teaching_the_news/news_2000/
august/081000_oilspill.jhtml