Oil spills typically occur in offshore oil exploration, transportation, storage, and marine accidents, threatening the ecological environment and economy of local communities and causing heavy metal pollution.
Heavy metals that accumulate in marine sediments may harm human health and ecosystems. It's important to accurately evaluate the heavy metal contamination caused by oil spills.
Recently, a research team from the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources (NIEER) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences explored heavy metal contamination caused by oil spills in the Bohai Sea by using bulk geochemical parameters and hydrocarbon compositions.
The scientists measured the contents of six heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr, Ni, and Co), total organic carbon, aliphatic hydrocarbons, and grain size in 50 subsurface sediment samples from an area affected by oil spills in the Bohai Sea.
They analyzed the grain size distributions, total organic carbon contents, elemental compositions, and lipid biomarkers to further understand the source and migration of heavy metals in areas affected by oil spills in the Bohai Sea.
Besides, they evaluated the enrichment in heavy metals and the composition of hydrocarbons in the subsurface sediments in an area affected by oil spills in the Bohai Sea, and assessed the ecological risks posed by metals in the areas affected by oil spills, especially the heavy metal contamination contributed by oil spills.
The study entitled "Are oil spills an important source of heavy metal contamination in the Bohai Sea, China?" was published in Environmental Science and Pollution Research.
ZHANG Shengyin
Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources
E-mail: zhangseepage@126.com
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