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Are oil spills an important source of heavy metal contamination in the Bohai Sea, China?

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Abstract

Accurate evaluation of the heavy metal contamination caused by oil spills is more urgent than that of organic pollution since heavy metals are toxic and persistent. This study applies bulk geochemical parameters and hydrocarbon compositions to explore heavy metal contamination caused by oil spills. The contents of six heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr, Ni, and Co), total organic carbon, aliphatic hydrocarbons, and grain size were measured in 50 subsurface sediment samples obtained from an area affected by oil spills in the Bohai Sea. The values of the contamination factor (CF), the geo-accumulation index (Igeo), and the enrichment factor (EF) indicate moderate contamination with the six investigated heavy metals at most of the sampling sites. Riverine inputs, oil spills, and airborne dust are the three main sources of the heavy metals, and oil spills are the significant source of heavy metal contamination in the areas. The distributions of the mean grain size (Mz) and the contents of unresolved complex mixture (UCM) and Cr suggest that crude oil migrates from deep hydrocarbon reservoirs through geological faults and seeps through coarse-grained sediments until it reaches fine-grained sediments. The spilled oil contributes appreciable amounts of heavy metals to the sediments at the oil-contaminated sites. At these sites, the heavy metals from oil spills overprinted on those contributed by terrigenous materials, which are the predominant source of metals in the subsurface sediments in the areas affected by oil spills.

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Funding

This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41503048) and a Key Laboratory Project of Gansu Province (Grant No. 1309RTSA041).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resource, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Shengyin Zhang, Hui Guo, Shuncun Zhang, Hailong Fan & Ji’an Shi

  2. Key Laboratory of Road Construction Technology and Equipment, MOE, Chang’an University, Xi’an, 710064, China

    Shengyin Zhang, Hui Guo, Shuncun Zhang & Ji’an Shi

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Hailong Fan

Authors
  1. Shengyin Zhang
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  2. Hui Guo
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Correspondence to Shengyin Zhang.

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Highlights

1. Bulk geochemical parameters and hydrocarbon compositions were measured to explore the heavy metal pollution caused by oil spills.

2. Three main sources of heavy metals were detected in the areas: (1) natural contributions from riverine inputs; (2) airborne dust; (3) oil seep.

3. Oil spills contribute moderate amounts of heavy metal pollution around Penglai 19-3 in the Bohai Sea.

4. The appreciable contributions of heavy metals from oil spills overprinted on those terrigenous materials.

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Zhang, S., Guo, H., Zhang, S. et al. Are oil spills an important source of heavy metal contamination in the Bohai Sea, China?. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 3449–3461 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06913-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06913-1

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