Long-term contamination in Alaska
Nature Geoscience
2010년1월18일

Oil spilt from the tanker Exxon Valdez in 1989 can still be found on the Alaskan coast because of the two-layered structure of local beaches, according a study online this week in Nature Geoscience. As oil exploitation and shipping in the Arctic region becomes more feasible owing to global warming, effective environmental protection and clean-up of spilt oil will become increasingly important.
Michel Boufadel and Hailong Li investigated the groundwater dynamics of a beach on Eleanor Island, Alaska, which was contaminated by the Exxon Valdez oil spill, using field measurements, tracers and numerical simulations. They found that the upper layer of the beach acted as a reservoir for the spilt oil, protecting it from weathering and loss of fluidity. From this reservoir, the oil entered the lower layer whenever the water level fell below the interface between the two layers. Because of the low oxygen content in the lower layer, the oil is not degraded and can persist in the long term.
doi: 10.1038/ngeo749
리서치 하이라이트
-
2월26일
Environment: Shifting from small to medium plastic bottles could reduce PET wasteScientific Reports
-
2월24일
Environment: European forests more vulnerable to multiple threats as climate warmsNature Communications
-
2월11일
Environment: Global CFC-11 emissions in declineNature
-
2월9일
Marine science: Bleaching leaves long-lasting effects on coral physiologyNature Ecology & Evolution
-
2월4일
Environmental science: Fresh water in the ice-age Arctic OceanNature
-
2월3일
Climate science: Under-reporting of greenhouse gas emissions in US citiesNature Communications