Physical and biological effects of experimental crude oil spills on Low Arctic tundra in the vicinity of Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., Canada

1976 ◽  
Vol 54 (19) ◽  
pp. 2219-2230 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Freedman ◽  
T. C. Hutchinson
Keyword(s):  
Crude Oil ◽  
Active Layer ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Biological Effects ◽  
Vascular Plant ◽  
Soil Surface ◽  
Soil Heat Flux ◽  
Layer Depth ◽  
Low Arctic ◽  
Made In

Data are presented on the effects of simulated crude oil spills on two Low Arctic terrestrial tundra plant communities near Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories. Spills of fresh, unweathered crude oil had a general herbicidal effect, resulting in rapid damage to, and subsequent death of, all aboveground actively growing foliage coming in contact with the oil. Most species were defoliated. Mosses and lichens were especially susceptible and killed. However, within several weeks of the summer oil spillages, a limited number of relatively tolerant vascular plant species began to develop regrowth shoots.Summer spills were markedly more damaging than were equivalent spills made in winter. No increases were seen in active layer depth from spills made in summer. However, winter spills on one of the two sites did show consistent and statistically significant (P > 0.01) increases in depth of thaw. Examination of several key energy budget parameters at these field sites indicated consistently lower albedos and evapotranspiration and consistently higher soil surface temperatures and soil heat flux at all oil spill sites, relative to their controls. However, except for a winter spill on one site, the recorded differences were not sufficiently large in magnitude to produce significant increases in active layer thaw depths.

Effects of experimental crude oil spills on subarctic boreal forest vegetation near Norman Wells, N.W.T., Canada

1978 ◽  
Vol 56 (19) ◽  
pp. 2424-2433 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. C. Hutchinson ◽  
W. Freedman
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Crude Oil ◽  
Active Layer ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Picea Mariana ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Biological Effects ◽  
Plant Cover ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Short Term

Data are presented on the effects of experimental crude oil spills made on two subarctic boreal forest plant communities near Norman Wells, N.W.T. Spray spills of fresh unweathered crude oil at an intensity of 9.1 ℓ/m2 had a general herbicidal effect and caused the death of any green tissue coming in direct contact with the oil. Death of lichens and mosses was rapid and complete. For some higher plants, a considerable lag period occurred between the time of the spill and the time of death (up to 4 years for some individuals of Picea mariana). For others, death occurred during the first winter, with marked effects on cover values in the spring. These effects resulted in large decreases in total plant cover and frequency at spill sites. However, within a few weeks, and in subsequent years, some species developed regrowth shoots. Other species survived as underground rhizomes for a number of years prior to their reappearance above ground (i.e., Equisetum scirpoides). Limited seedling establishment by vascular plants was first observed in the fourth postspill growing season, when some sporeling establishment was also noted for several bryophyte species. No Picea mariana regeneration has occurred in the spill plots in the six postspill growing seasons monitored thus far.Crude oil spills made in winter were found to be less damaging than equivalent summer spills in their short-term biological effects and on rates of recovery and species affected. Initial observations indicate that a summer diesel oil spill shows roughly equivalent toxicity to a summer crude oil spill of the same intensity. Comparisons between an intensive spill (8500 ℓ) made at one point and dispersed spray spills indicate that the former are far less damaging per unit of oil applied to the plant community, with severe detrimental effects being largely limited to areas of direct surface contamination. In the point spill examined, most of the oil percolated downwards and then laterally. Surface vegetation growing above areas with subsurface horizons contaminated by oil was not greatly affected in the first 2 years. An increased area of damage appeared in postspill years 5 and 6, including death of Picea mariana. Oil also appeared to move laterally in 1976 when severe rains occurred, and the oiled area increased somewhat.Limited short-term effects of the spill treatments on depth of active layer thaw have been noted in this study, but these initial effects were not maintained after the first postspill growing season. The low rates of oil application make the conclusions about the effects of large spills on active layer stability conjectural. Potential effects on vegetation are much more firmly based. Oil in the boreal forest soil appeared to retain toxic properties throughout the 5-year study period.

Ecological characteristics of 35-year-old crude-oil spills in tundra plant communities of the Mackenzie Mountains, N.W.T.

1986 ◽  
Vol 64 (12) ◽  
pp. 2935-2947 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Peter Kershaw ◽  
Linda J. Kershaw
Keyword(s):  
Crude Oil ◽  
Contaminated Soils ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Plant Cover ◽  
Soil Surface ◽  
Yukon Territory ◽  
Similarity Coefficients ◽  
Floristic Similarity ◽  
Oil Pipeline ◽  
Salix Planifolia

In June 1945 the CANOL Crude Oil Pipeline No. 1 from Norman Wells, Northwest Territories, to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, was abandoned. During its short history, approximately 17 838 500 L of oil was lost through spills and 9 864 400 L was left in the line and storage tanks. Although some burning was done during salvage operations, most residual oil was drained onto the soil surface. Studies in alpine tundra indicate that this oil penetrated up to 60 cm in dry, coarse-textured soils and 8 cm in wet, clay-rich soils. Oil decomposition ranged from complete utilization of n-alkanes to selective metabolism of n-alkanes C12 to C19. Contaminated soils were drier than control soils. This, plus surface blackening and thinning or organic surface layers, resulted in subsurface warming. Floristic similarity coefficients comparing control sites and 27 crude-oil spills varied from 19 to 52. Plant cover was substantially lower on oil spills and in only one community was floristic diversity greater on oil spills than on associated control sites. Dominant colonizers included Cladonia pocillum, Cladonia pyxidata, Rinodina roscida, Carex aquatilis, Carex membranacea, Carex scirpoidea, Epilobium angustifolium, Eriophorum angustifolium, Festuca altaica, Juncus albescens, Poa alpina, Salix planifolia, Solidago multiradiata, and Trisetum spicatum.

scholarly journals Willows Used for Phytoremediation Increased Organic Contaminant Concentrations in Soil Surface

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 2979
Author(s):  
Maxime Fortin Faubert ◽  
Dominic Desjardins ◽  
Mohamed Hijri ◽  
Michel Labrecque
Keyword(s):  
Soil Surface ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Soil Hydrology ◽  
Intensive Culture ◽  
Shrub Species ◽  
Short Rotation ◽  
Pollutant Concentrations ◽  
Polycyclic Aromatic ◽  
Made In

The Salix genus includes shrub species that are widely used in phytoremediation and various other phytotechnologies due to their advantageous characteristics, such as a high evapotranspiration (ET) rate, in particular when cultivated in short rotation intensive culture (SRIC). Observations made in past field studies suggest that ET and its impact on soil hydrology can also lead to increases in soil pollutant concentrations near shrubs. To investigate this, sections of a mature willow plantation (seven years old) were cut to eliminate transpiration (Cut treatment). Soil concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), aliphatic compounds C10–C50, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and five trace elements (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni and Zn) were compared between the Cut and the uncut plots (Salix miyabeana ‘SX61’). Over 24 months, the results clearly show that removal of the willow shrubs limited the contaminants’ increase in the soil surface, as observed for C10–C50 and of 10 PAHs under the Salix treatment. This finding strongly reinforces a hypothesis that SRIC of willows may facilitate the migration of contaminants towards their roots, thus increasing their concentration in the surrounding soil. Such a “pumping effect” in a high-density willow crop is a prominent characteristic specific to field studies that can lead to counterintuitive results. Although apparent increases of contaminant concentrations contradict the purification benefits usually pursued in phytoremediation, the possibility of active phytoextraction and rhizodegradation is not excluded. Moreover, increases of pollutant concentrations under shrubs following migration suggest that decreases would consequently occur at the source points. Some reflections on interpreting field work results are provided.

Modeling Active Layer Depth of Permafrost Changing Surface Boundary Conditions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
MODI ZHU ◽  
Jingfeng Wang ◽  
Husayn Sharif ◽  
Valeriy Ivanov ◽  
Aleksey Sheshukov
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Conditions ◽  
Active Layer ◽  
Surface Boundary ◽  
Layer Depth ◽  
Surface Boundary Conditions

scholarly journals Sulfentrazone efficiency on Ipomoea hederifolia and Ipomoea quamoclit as influenced by rain and sugarcane straw

2013 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.M Correia ◽  
E.H Camilo ◽  
E.A Santos
Keyword(s):  
Field Experiment ◽  
Biological Effects ◽  
Soil Surface ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Herbicide Application ◽  
Time Intervals ◽  
Greenhouse Experiments ◽  
Sugarcane Straw ◽  
Simulated Rain ◽  
Rain Simulation

The aim of this study was to assess the capacity of sulfentrazone applied in pre-emergence in controlling Ipomoea hederifolia and Ipomoea quamoclit as a function of the time interval between herbicide application and the occurrence of rain, and the presence of sugarcane straw on the soil surface. Two greenhouse experiments and one field experiment were conducted. For the greenhouse experiments, the study included three doses of sulfentrazone applied by spraying 0, 0.6, and 0.9 kg ha-1, two amounts of straw on the soil (0 and 10 t ha-1), and five time intervals between the application of herbicide and rain simulation (0, 20, 40, 60, and 90 days). In the field experiment, five herbicide treatments (sulfentrazone at 0.6 and 0.9 kg ha-1, sulfentrazone + hexazinone at 0.6 + 0.25 kg ha-1, amicarbazone at 1.4 kg ha-1, and imazapic at 0.147 kg ha-1) and two controls with no herbicide were studied. Management conditions with or without sugarcane straw on the soil were also assessed. From the greenhouse experiments, sulfentrazone application at 0.6 kg ha-1 was found to provide for the efficient control of I. hederifolia and I. quamoclit in a dry environment, with up to 90 days between herbicide application and rain simulation. After herbicide application, 20 mm of simulated rain was enough to leach sulfentrazone from the straw to the soil, as the biological effects observed in I. hederifolia and I. quamoclit remained unaffected. Under field conditions, either with or without sugarcane straw left on the soil, sulfentrazone alone (0.6 or 0.9 kg ha-1) or sulfentrazone combined with hexazinone (0.6 + 0.25 kg ha-1) was effective in the control of I. hederifolia and I. quamoclit, exhibiting similar or better control than amicarbazone (1.4 kg ha-1) and imazapic (0.147 kg ha-1).

scholarly journals Bower ratio-energy balance associated errors in vineyards under dripping irrigation

2007 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Monteiro Soares ◽  
Pedro Vieira De Azevedo ◽  
Bernado Barbosa Da Silva
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Soil Surface ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Bowen Ratio ◽  
Global Solar Radiation ◽  
Soil Heat Flux ◽  
Vitis Vinifera L ◽  
Data Logger ◽  
And Storage ◽  
Ratio Energy

This study was conducted at the Bebedouro Experimental Station in Petrolina-PE, Brazil, to evaluate the errors associated to the application of the Bowen ratio-energy balance in a 3-years old vineyard (Vitis vinifera, L), grown in a trellis system, irrigated by dripping. The field measurements were taken during fruiting cycle (July to November, 2001), which was divided into eigth phenological stages. A micrometeorological tower was mounted in a grape-plants row in which sensors of net radiation, global solar radiation and wind speed were installed at about 1.0 m above the canopy. Also in the tower, two psicometers were installed at two levels (0.5 and 1.8 m) above the vineyard canopy. Two soil heat flux plates were buried at 0.02 m beneath the soil surface. All these sensors were connected to a Data logger 21 X of Campbell Scientific Inc., programmed for collecting data once every 5 seconds and storage averages for every 15 minutes. A comparative analysis were made among four Bowen ratio accepting/rejecting rules, according to the methodology proposed by Spano et al. (2000): betar1 - values of beta calculated by Bowen (1926) equation; betar2 - values of beta as proposed by Verma et al. (1978) equation; betar3 - exclusion of the beta values obtained as recommended by Unland et al. (1996) and betar4 - exclusion of the beta values calculated as proposed by Bowen (1926), out of the interval (-0.7 < beta < 0.7). Constacted that the Unland et al. (1996) and Soares (2003) accepting/rejection rules were better than that of Verma et al. (1978) for attenuating the advective effects on the calculations of the Bowen ratio. The comparison of betar1 with betar2 rules showed that the statistical errors reaching maximum values of 0.015. When comparing betar1 with betar3 e betar4, the beta errors reaching maximum values of 5.80 and 3.15, respectively.

scholarly journals THE FATE OF TWO LARGE OIL SPILLS IN THE ARABIAN GULF

1983 ◽  
Vol 1983 (1) ◽  
pp. 377-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Lehr ◽  
Murat S. Belen
Keyword(s):  
Crude Oil ◽  
Computer Model ◽  
Trajectory Analysis ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Arabian Gulf ◽  
Oil Field ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Unidentified Source ◽  
Offshore Oil ◽  
Large Sections

ABSTRACT In August and October 1980, two large oil spills occurred in the Arabian Gulf. The first, from an unidentified source, involved about 20,000 barrels of crude oil and impacted the entire north and west coasts of the island nation of Bahrain. The second occurred when the Ron Tapmeyer platform in the Hasbah offshore oil field blew out, releasing an estimated 50,000 barrels of thick crude into the Gulf. The spill subsequently covered large sections of the coastline of Qatar. The fate of the oil from these spills is examined with respect to the unique conditions found in the region. A computer model is used for trajectory analysis of the spills and hypothesizing the possible origin of the first spill. Methods of cleanup and problems with the weathered oil are mentioned. The environmental damage caused by the Bahrain spill is assessed.

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