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Petroleum hydrocarbons ten years after spillage at a helipad in Bunger Hills, East Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 May 2004

D.B. Gore
Affiliation:
Department of Physical Geography, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia
A.T. Revill
Affiliation:
CSIRO Division of Marine Research, GPO Box 1538, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia Antarctic CRC, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia
D. Guille
Affiliation:
Antarctic CRC, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia

Abstract

Surface and subsurface sediments from a helipad in Bunger Hills were collected ten years after accidental contamination with a small quantity (probably < 10 litres) of petroleum products. The contaminants are dominated by Jet A2 synthetic lubricating oil which exhibits no evidence of degradation or environmental mobility. In contrast, Jet A1 turbine kerosene is less abundant at the surface than at 20 cm depth. There is no evidence for biodegradation of the Jet A1 in the subsurface sample, suggesting that kerosene is environmentally mobile in the surface sediments.

Type
Papers—Life Sciences and Oceanography
Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 1999

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