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Salgado, Maria Antonia Santos Mendes. "The effects of vegetable oil contamination on mussels." Thesis, Bangor University, 1995. https://research.bangor.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/the-effects-of-vegetable-oil-contamination-on-mussels(a001885f-2570-447b-90fb-d4cc6630d1e9).html.
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In this study the effects of the vegetable oils rapeseed, linseed, olive and sunflower oil on mussel performance were investigated. In view of the scarse knowledge of the effects of vegetable oil spills on marine life, unlike petroleum spills which have been extensively studied, this investigation was directed towards an evaluation of the impact of vegetable oil contamination in the marine environment using Mytilus edulis as a bioindicator organism. The growth of mussels, their tolerance to changing salinities and temperatures, their behaviour and vegetable oil metabolism were studied. Fatty acid composition of mussels. microalgae and vegetable oils was also determined. All the vegetable oils studied had an inhibitory effect on the growth of Mytilus edulis, the growth rate of mussels after four weeks of exposure to the oils being 5 times lower than the growth rates of the control mussels. Growth rates were assessed by a photographic method which proved to be practical and provided sufficient precision in detect small increases in growth. Vegetable oils caused mortalities and they changed the fatty acid composition of mussels. Other biological responses of mussels are also affected by sunflower oil exposure: gaping time, tolerance to low salinities and foot extension activity, of which the latter may be of ecological significance. An uptake and accumulation of fatty acids in mussels marked the presence of vegetable oils, however, fatty acid metabolism was only detected after the oils had been removed. The results of this study indicate that contrary to what is believed, vegetable oils should not be overlooked under the argument of their edibility and biodegradability but instead should be included in oil spill contingency planning because they can cause mortality and disrupt the growth of wild and cultured mussels.
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Bell, Barbara Allen Spotila James R. "Effects of crude oil contamination on the reproduction of freshwater turtles /." Philadelphia, Pa. : Drexel University, 2005. http://dspace.library.drexel.edu/handle/1860/479.
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Chan, Godine Kok Yan. "Effects of droplet size on intrusion of sub-surface oil spills." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/79493.
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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, February 2013.<br>"February 2013." Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.<br>Includes bibliographical references (p. 86-90).<br>This thesis explores the effects of droplet size on droplet intrusion in sub-surface oil spills. Laboratory experiments were performed where glass beads of various sizes, which serve to simulate oil droplets in deepsea oil spills, were released vertically in a quiescent salinity stratified ambient and descended as multi-phase plumes. The two-tank stratification method was used to create linear density profiles for all experiments. The resulting radial concentration distributions of the dispersed phases were obtained by collecting the settled particles from the bottom of the tank. The radial distributions recorded were found to resemble Gaussian distributions, based on visual observations and analyses of kurtosis, which is consistent with particles being vertically well mixed in the intrusion layer. A new typology was proposed to describe plume structures with UN= us/(BN)¹/⁴ </= 1.4. For UN </=1.4 particle detrain from the plem, but only those with smallest slip velocity (UN </+0.3) intrude. An analytical model assuming well-mixed particle distributions within the intrusion layer was also used to predict the spread of the particle distribution based on initial buoyancy flux B, stratification frequency N, the particle slip velocity us, and the non-dimensional slip velocity UN. Comparison between experimental results and the analytical model suggested that the model accurately predicts the spread of the particles for UN </=1.4. Experiments with beads of difference sizes also suggested that the interaction between two particle groups has minimal effects on their radial particle spread. This indicates that particles of difference sizes can be treated independently when analyzing their radial plume spread. Chemical dispersants produce small oil droplets and the current experiments provide references on the minimum diameter needed for efficient particle spread (Type la* plume). By knowing the following parameters for a scenario - 1) initial buoyancy flux B; 2) the ambient stratification profile N; and 3) the slip velocities of the droplets u, - suitable amounts of dispersant can be determined and applied to reduce the size of the particles exiting the spill, allowing them to intrude and spread for a larger distance in the ocean column. A hypothetical example with conditions taken from the 'Deep Spill' experiment and Deepwater Horizon oil spill was also presented for reference.<br>by Godine Kok Yan Chan.<br>S.M.
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Radović, Jagoš. "Comprehensive analytical approaches to determine the sources, fate and effects of marine oil spills." Doctoral thesis, Universitat de Barcelona, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/283088.
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In the past two decades we witnessed a decrease in both the number of oil spill incidents, and of the quantity of oil released in these incidents, which led to a diminished interest for basic oil spill science. With the introduction of more stringent oil spill legislation, much of the spill response, assessment and restoration activities were passed to governmental agencies and other stakeholders.
Their capabilities were perhaps sufficient to deal with the most frequently occurring small-scale spills, however, recent large, catastrophic incidents such as the sinking of Prestige in 2002, or the Deepwater Horizon blowout in 2010,
renewed the need for fundamental science in order to be able to fully understand and estimate the scope of the impacts such spills can have on the environment, economy and society.
This is particularly important in the context of new explorations and discoveries of hydrocarbon resources in pristine regions such as Arctic, where extreme weather and the lack of infrastructure emphasize even more the need for a comprehensive assessment of all of the possible effects the future oil production could cause.
The objectives of this thesis were set to provide new approaches and methodologies, and to improve and reevaluate the previously existing ones, in a way which can contribute to this comprehensive and proactive strategy. Their scope is comprehensive because it covers all the important aspects of marine oil spills – the sources, environmental fate and possible toxic effects. In addition, particular relevance of this thesis is drawn from the fact that the studies presented here include the investigation of real major oil spills (Prestige, DWH), and of a broad range of oils and oil products that are currently produced and transported worldwide.
In order to fulfill the abovementioned general objectives, the following specific objectives had to be accomplished:
Firstly, a physicochemical database of frequently transported crude and refined oils was created using elemental analysis, thin-layer liquid chromatography (TLC) with flame ionization detector (FID) analysis of principal oil compound groups, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) fingerprinting of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and biomarkers, and available oil assays. This database was then applied to assess their possible fate in the case of a spill, and to model three spill scenarios in different European regional seas using ADIOS2 software from NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). Fingerprints of selected oils were assessed and statistically compared to discover the most relevant compositional differences that could facilitate the identification of oil spill sources.
Secondly, the GC-MS methodology used to create the fingerprint database of selected oils was evaluated in an international interlaboratory ring test. The objective was to test the capability of this fingerprinting methodology to identify the type and source of weathered (biodegraded) oil samples.
Thirdly, the weathering of oil samples from Prestige and Deepwater Horizon spills, in particular the photooxidation, was studied. Samples weathered in field and in laboratory experiments were analyzed using TLC-FID, GC-MS, comprehensive two dimensional gas chromatography (GCxGC) with FID, and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR) to discover compositional changes on the bulk level as well as on the molecular level. PAHs and triaromatic steranes (TAS) were of particular interest, as well as the effects of the photooxidation on the robustness of the oil fingerprinting methodology.
Finally, the effects of selected fresh and weathered (evaporated, photooxidized) crude and refined oils were studied, using the effect-directed analysis (EDA). The samples were sequentially fractionated using open-column liquid chromatography and normal-phase semipreparative HPLC, and the obtained fractions were subjected to bioassays to test their AhR agonist and AR antagonist activity. The most active fractions were then analyzed using GCxGC coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS), and this data was related to bioassay results using N-way partial least square (N-PLS) chemometric model, in order to identify the compounds responsible for the observed effects.<br>A pesar de las tendencias positivas en las últimas décadas, los vertidos ocasionados por la exploración, extracción y transporte de petróleo siguen siendo una importante amenaza para los ecosistemas marinos y especialmente costeros.
Esta Tesis se ocupa de todos los aspectos importantes sobre los vertidos marinos de petróleo: el origen, el destino ambiental y sus posibles efectos. Para permitir su comprensión global, se utilizaron diferentes metodologías complementarias.
En primer lugar, se ha creado una base de datos físico-químicos de diferentes petróleos (crudos y refinados) que se transportan frecuentemente usando el análisis elemental, la cromatografía en capa fina (TLC) acoplada a un detector de ionización de llama (FID) de los principales grupos de compuestos de petróleo, la toma de huellas químicas de los hidrocarburos aromáticos policíclicos (HAP) y los biomarcadores mediante cromatografía de gases acoplada a espectrometría de masas (GC-MS), y ensayos de petróleo disponibles. A continuación, se aplicó esta base de datos para evaluar su posible destino en el caso de un vertido, y para modelar tres escenarios de vertidos en diferentes mares regionales europeos usando el software ADIOS2 de la Administración Nacional Oceánica y Atmosférica (NOAA). Las huellas químicas de los petróleos seleccionados fueron evaluadas y comparadas estadísticamente para investigar las diferencias de composición más relevantes que podrían facilitar la identificación del origen de vertido.
En segundo lugar, la metodología de GC-MS utilizada para crear la base de datos de las huellas químicas de los petróleos seleccionados se ha evaluado en una prueba interlaboratorio internacional. El objetivo fue investigar la capacidad que tiene esta metodología de toma de huellas químicas para identificar el tipo y el origen de las muestras envejecidas (biodegradadas) de petróleo.
En tercer lugar, se ha estudiado el envejecimiento de las muestras de petróleo de los vertidos de Prestige (2002) y de la plataforma Deepwater Horizon (2010), en particular, debido a la fotooxidación. Se analizaron muestras envejecidas en el campo y en experimentos de laboratorio mediante TLC-FID, GCMS, cromatografía de gases bidimensional integrada (GCxGC) acoplada a un FID, y espectroscopia infrarroja por transformada de Fourier (FT-IR) para investigar los cambios de composición tanto a nivel global como a nivel molecular. Los HAP y esteranos triaromáticos fueron de especial interés, así como los efectos de la fotooxidación en la robustez de la metodología de toma de huellas químicas de petróleo.
Finalmente, se estudiaron los efectos de las muestras no tratadas y envejecidas (evaporadas, fotooxidadas) de los petróleos crudos y refinados seleccionados, utilizando el análisis dirigido por los efectos tóxicos (EDA). Las muestras se fraccionaron secuencialmente usando la cromatografía líquida en columna abierta y la cromatografía líquida de alta eficacia (HPLC) semipreparativa en fase normal. Las fracciones obtenidas se sometieron a bioensayos para investigar su actividad agonista de los receptores AhR y la actividad antagonista de los receptores AR. En el siguiente paso, las fracciones más activas fueron analizadas mediante GCxGC acoplada a espectrometría de masas en tiempo de vuelo (TOFMS), y estos datos se relacionaron con los resultados de los bioensayos utilizando un modelo quimiométrico de regresión por mínimos cuadrados parciales en N direcciones (N-PLS), con el fin de identificar los compuestos responsables de los efectos observados.
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Clem, Travis. "Oceanographic effects on maritime threats mines and oil spills in the Strait of Hormuz." Thesis, Monterey, Calif. : Naval Postgraduate School, 2007. http://bosun.nps.edu/uhtbin/hyperion.exe/07Mar%5FClem.pdf.
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Thesis (M.S. in Physical Oceanography)--Naval Postgraduate School, March 2007.<br>Thesis Advisor(s): Peter C. Chu. "March 2007." Includes bibliographical references (p. 97-101). Also available in print.
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Stacey, Bruce M. "The chronic effect of no. 2 fuel oil on the population dynamics of Harpacticoid copepods in experimental marine mesocosms /." Thesis, McGill University, 1985. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=63374.
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Alloy, Matthew Michael. "Photo-induced Toxicity of Deepwater Horizon Spill Oil to Four Native Gulf of Mexico Species." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2015. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc822778/.
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The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill resulted in the accidental release of millions of barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). Photo-induced toxicity following co-exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation is one mechanism by which polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from oil spills may exert toxicity. Blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) are an important commercial and ecological resource in the Gulf of Mexico and their largely transparent larvae may make them sensitive to PAH photo-induced toxicity. Mahi-mahi (Coryphaena hippurus), an important fishery resource, have positively buoyant, transparent eggs. These characteristics may result in mahi-mahi embryos being at particular risk from photo-induced toxicity. Red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) and speckled seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus) are both important fishery resources in the GoM. They spawn near-shore and produce positively buoyant embryos that hatch into larvae in about 24 h. The goal of this body of work was to determine whether exposure to UV as natural sunlight enhances the toxicity of crude oil to early lifestage GoM species. Larval and embryonic organisms were exposed to several dilutions of water accommodated fractions (WAF) from several different oils collected in the field under chain of custody during the 2010 spill and two to three gradations of natural sunlight in a factorial design. Here, we report that co-exposure to natural sunlight and oil significantly reduced larval survival and embryo hatch compared to exposure to oil alone.
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Boyé, Donald J. "The effect of weathering processes on the vertical turbulent dispersion characteristics of crude oil spilled on the sea." FIU Digital Commons, 1994. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1777.
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Since the Exxon Valdez accident in 1987, renewed interest has come forth to better understand and predict the fate and transport of crude oil lost to marine environments. The short-term fate of an Arabian Crude oil was simulated in laboratory experiments using artificial seawater. The time-dependent changes in the rheological and chemical properties of the oil under the influence of natural weathering processes were characterized, including dispersion behavior of the oil under simulated ocean turbulence. Methodology included monitoring the changes in the chemical composition of the oil by Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GCMS), toxicity evaluations for the oil dispersions by Microtox analysis, and quantification of dispersed soluble aromatics by fluorescence spectrometry.
Results for this oil show a sharp initial increase in viscosity, due to evaporative losses of lower molecular weight hydrocarbons, with the formation of stable water-in-oil emulsions occurring within one week. Toxicity evaluations indicate a decreased EC-50 value (higher toxicity) occurring after the oil has weathered eight hours, with maximum toxicity being observed after weathering seven days. Particle charge distributions, determined by electrophoretic techniques using a Coulter DELSA 440, reveal that an unstable oil dispersion exists within the size range of 1.5 to 2.5 um, with recombination processes being observed between sequential laser runs of a single sample.
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Zhuang, Mobing. "Effects of Chemical Dispersion on Biodegradation of Petroleum." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1470757578.
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Magnuson, Jason T. "Effects of Deepwater Horizon Crude Oil on Visual Function in Teleost Fishes." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2018. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1248397/.
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The Deepwater Horizon oil spill released millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, impacting economically and ecologically important fishes. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) present in the oil have been shown to cause developmental impairments in early life stage fishes, such as morphological and behavioral changes related to eye formation and visual processing following PAH exposure. Prior research reported reduced eye growth in open water, pelagic species, as well as reduced photoreceptor-specific transcription factors associated with eye development following exposure to crude oil. Though changes in transcriptomic-level pathways associated with vision and visual processing have been reported, it has yet to be determined how these changes relate to physiological or behavioral-level effects in fish. Therefore, the present studies evaluated the effect of weathered crude oil on eye development and visual function in mahi-mahi, red drum, sheepshead minnow, and zebrafish larvae. Fish were assessed through several visually-mediated behavioral assays, analyzed histologically and immunohistologically, along with subsequent transcriptomic analyses and associated gene expression changes. Larvae exposed to crude oil experienced significantly reduced abilities to exhibit optomotor or optokinetic responses relative to controls, with associated reductions in retinal development. Furthermore, genes associated with eye development and phototransduction were downregulated, with subsequent decreases in the immunofluorescence of neurological connections within the retina and a choroid-specific increase in apoptotic activity. We related oil-induced transcriptomic-level effects to morphological, physiological, and behavioral-level impairments in larval teleost fishes.
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Taylor, Leigh M. "Photoinduced Toxicity in Early Lifestage Fiddler Crab (Uca longisignalis) Following Exposure to Deepwater Horizon Spill Oil." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2015. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc822799/.
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The 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill resulted in a large release of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) into the Gulf of Mexico. PAH can interact with ultraviolet radiation (UV) resulting in increased toxicity, particularly to early lifestage organisms. The goal of this research was to determine the sensitivity of fiddler crab larvae (Uca longisignalis) to photo-induced toxicity following exposure to Deepwater Horizon spill oil in support of the DWH Natural Resource Damage Assessment. Five replicate dishes each containing 20 larvae, were exposed to one of three UV treatments (10%, 50%, and 100% ambient natural sunlight) and one of five dilutions of water accommodated fractions of two naturally weathered source oils. A dose dependent effect of PAH and UV on larval mortality was observed. Mortality was markedly higher in PAH treatments that included co-exposure to more intense UV light. PAH treatments under low intensity sunlight had relatively high survival. These data demonstrate the importance of considering combined effects of non-chemical (i.e. UV exposure) and chemical stressors and the potential for photo-induced effects after exposure to PAH following the Deepwater Horizon spill.
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Leary, Arianne Ella. "Effects of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on Deep Sea Fishes." UNF Digital Commons, 2015. http://digitalcommons.unf.edu/etd/566.
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The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (DWH) released about 4.4 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), making it one of the largest oil spills in U.S. history. Additionally, the depth of the spill (i.e., 1500 meters) created a unique research opportunity because most oil spills occur at the surface and affect coastal rather than deepwater habitats. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are the most toxic components of oil, and are often the focus of oil exposure studies. PAHs are quickly metabolized by vertebrates; therefore, indicators of biological responses to PAH exposure (PAH “biomarkers”) such as the levels of PAH detoxification enzymes and the resulting metabolites are commonly used to examine oil exposure. This study measured multiple PAH biomarkers including hepatic activity of the PAH detoxification enzymes cytochrome P4501a1 (CYP1A) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST), as well as biliary PAH metabolites in deep sea sharks and bony fishes from areas affected by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Samples were collected from 2011-2013 from seven species of sharks, with special focus on the four most abundant deep sea species: Centrophorus niakang, Centrophorus cf granulosus, Squalus cubensis and Squalus cf mitsikurii. Overall enzyme activity was low in these sharks, yet it was higher in oiled sites compared to reference locations. Additionally some species showed declining CYP1A activity since the time of the oil spill, suggesting exposure to CYP-inducing compounds during the beginning of the survey period. Last, PAHs of a petrogenic nature were more abundant in oiled sites compared to reference locations. Overall, this project provides the much need biomarker data for sharks as well as insight on exposure and metabolism of PAHs in deep sea sharks after the DWH.
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Barnes, Emma Katherine. "Producing a Film on Oil Spill Research for the Public." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2018. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1404585/.
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The Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig exploded on April 20, 2010, off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico. Following the spill, British Petroleum, leaser of the rig, set up a funding institution known as the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) to support research and understanding of the spill on the environments and peoples of the gulf. This outreach project was created alongside research of the RECOVER consortium, funded by GoMRI, to communicate what is happening within research labs around the country to understand the effect that the spill had on fish in pelagic and coastal regions of the gulf. The outreach project is composed of a short film (Deepwaters: The Science of a Spill, 18 min) and related outreach materials posted to Instagram (@FishandOilSpills).
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Ota, Jonathan Okore. "The effect of light crude oil contamination on the geotechnical properties of kaolinite clay soil." Thesis, Anglia Ruskin University, 2013. http://arro.anglia.ac.uk/297120/.
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Crude oil is of economic importance to any nation. However its poor management and disposal method has resulted in oil spillage and ground contamination. Most emphasis on crude oil contamination on the environment has been on surface and ground water pollution, as well as plants and animals with little or no attention paid to the engineering properties of the contaminated soil. This research is thus aimed at investigating the effect of light crude oil contamination on the geotechnical properties of kaolinite clay soil. This research is a laboratory based experiment in which the contaminated soil was prepared by adding different percentages of light crude oil (2%, 5%, 8%, 10%, 15% and 20%) measured by weight of the dry soil sample and mixed until a uniform mixture was obtained. The British Standard Test Methods for Civil Engineering purposes BS 1377: 1990 (EUROCODE 7: EN 1997: 2-5) was adopted with few modifications. The calculations were based on the fact that the pore space in the contaminated soil is occupied by water and crude oil so water content was calculated from the fluid content and the rate of evaporation of crude oil during oven drying was also considered. The classification results showed that crude oil contamination caused an increase in linear shrinkage, liquid limit, plastic limit and plasticity index between 0% to 20% contaminations. The compaction result showed that there was an increase in maximum dry density while the optimum moisture content decreased between 0% and 15% of crude oil contamination. The result showed that the soil could not compact at 20% contamination and above. Also, the coefficient of permeability increased with increase in the percentage of crude oil contamination while the coefficient of consolidation value (Cv) increases with increase in the percentage of contamination. There was a decrease in the cohesion value and the frictional angle due to the introduction of the crude oil into the soil. Although crude oil altered the geotechnical properties of the kaolinite clay soil and reduced its strength, the soil can still be used for geotechnical purposed after remediation.
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Pérez, Calderón Luis José. "Fate of spilled oil in marine sediments and the effects of chemical dispersant." Thesis, University of Aberdeen, 2018. http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=238377.
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The rise in global energy demand has motivated the exploration and production of oil and gas in increasingly challenging marine environments and there is a continuous risk of accidental oil spills. One of the many fates of spilled oil is deposition on the seabed, which has been extensively studied following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. However, post-depositional fates of oil in sediments are not well understood. Similarly, the effects of chemical dispersant on oil fate are currently under investigation as their overall contribution to mitigating oil spills environmental impacts remains debated. This project aimed to evaluate the potential for spilled oil to entrain marine sediments and the effects dispersant application had on the process under three transport regimes; (1) post-depositional transport via oil-sediment aggregate deposition in deep-sea sediments, (2) percolative transport in intertidal sands and (3) advective pore-water transport in intertidal and subtidal sands. Investigations into the sorption dynamics of two polyaromatic hydrocarbons in sediment-dispersantseawater systems were also undertaken to evaluate the influence of dispersant application on sorption of hydrocarbons to sediments. Finally, the effects of oil exposure at in situ conditions of pressure and temperature on sediment bacterial community composition were investigated. Oil transport experiments revealed that the tested regimes resulted in significant entrainment of hydrocarbons in marine sediments. Dispersant application resulted in enhanced oil entrainment into sands but not in silts and this effect depended on the water-solubility of hydrocarbons. Watersoluble components were less affected by dispersant than less water-soluble ones. Investigations into sediment bacterial responses to oil exposure at in situ conditions of pressure and temperature revealed a significant effect of both variables on diversity and community composition, highlighting the importance of conducting deep-sea microbial studies at conditions as close to in situ as possible.
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Dornberger, Lindsey N. "Using Ecosystem-Based Modeling to Describe an Oil Spill and Assess the Long-Term Effects." Scholar Commons, 2018. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/7672.
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The goal of the research conducted in this dissertation was to define and test methods to incorporate oil spill effects into an ecosystem-based assessment model. It was instigated by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, an unprecedented oil spill in the United States for both depth and volume, with unknown implications for the health of the region. Using an ecosystem-based assessment model like Atlantis, with integrated oil spill dynamics, was the ideal candidate to predict long-term impacts such as decreased abundance or population recovery time. However no previous methodology existed for doing so in any ecosystem-based assessment model. Therefore, first I conducted a literature review to gather data across fish species on lesion frequency and fish body growth impacts from oil exposure. The two data sets were then fitted to four different dose-response models, and an effect threshold log-linear “hockey-stick” model was selected as the best fit and most parsimonious for both lesions and growth. Next, I conducted a similar analysis comparing macrofaunal and meiofaunal abundances to oil exposure concentrations in the Gulf of Mexico collected after Deepwater Horizon. I confirmed that these data had the domed relationship between invertebrate abundances and oil concentration observed in previous invertebrate oil studies. This domed relationship indicates that abundance increases at low to moderate oil levels, and declines at high oil levels. To drive this relationship in an Atlantis ecosystem model, three scenarios were tested in combination with oil toxicity: 1) Mississippi nutrient loading, 2) increased detritus from marine oil snow sedimentation and flocculent accumulation, and 3) predators altering their behavior to avoid oil exposure. At the Atlantis polygon resolution, only scenario 2, increased detritus from marine oil snow sedimentation and flocculent accumulation, generated the domed relationship for invertebrate abundances. Lastly, the “hockey-stick” model for fish mortality and growth was applied to both fishes and invertebrates in combination with scenario 2 for an integrated long-term assessment of the Gulf of Mexico. Newly available fish exposure data were used to generate an uptake-depuration model for this assessment. The combined effect forcings on vertebrates and invertebrates proved to have more severe long-term implications on population size and recovery than simulations with only fish forcings. Large demersal fishes, including elasmobranchs, were the most severely impacted by large biomass declines in the model spill region. Sensitivity analyses indicated that there was the potential for no recovery during 50 years of simulation in the spill region for many functional groups. Analysis of the synergy between fishing mortality F and toxicity from an oil spill identified that some guilds are more sensitive in an oil spill simulation to varied F than others. Snappers are the most sensitive to increased fishing mortality, while groupers respond the most to a reduction in fishing mortality. The invertebrate guild and small pelagic fishes responded the least to different values of F. Changing F also had implications for guild recovery – some guilds only fully recovered to control scenario biomass when F was reduced. A few functional groups were unable to survive with the combined effects of oil toxicity and increased F, and went extinct before the end of the 50-year simulation. Overall, this work provided the first framework for initial integrated modeling of oil spill impacts in an ecosystem-based assessment model, a potentially important component to future ecosystem-based fisheries management. The “hockey-stick” dose response model is applicable beyond Atlantis modeling, and can be tuned to fit specific events based on available data. I have also identified the importance of including marine oil snow sedimentation and flocculent accumulation to accurately drive the response of benthic invertebrates. Findings from the combined vertebrate and invertebrate simulations should help inform research efforts in the Gulf of Mexico and future oil spill response efforts.
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Arnberg, Maj. "Combined effects of ocean acidification, ocean warming and oil spill on aspects of development of marine invertebrates." Thesis, University of Plymouth, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/5287.
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For decades, humans have impacted marine ecosystems in a variety of ways including contamination by pollution, fishing, and physical destruction of habitats. Global change has, and will, lead to alterations in in a number of abiotic factors of our ocean in particular reduced oxygen saturation, salinity changes, elevated temperature (ocean warming or OW) and elevated carbon dioxide (ocean acidification or OA). Now and in the future, OA and OW will operate together with local anthropogenic drivers such as oil pollution. And yet, at present, very little is known about their potential combined interactive effects on physiological performance and tolerance of marine organisms. Therefore, multiple driver experiments are required if we are to understand and predict future vulnerability of species, populations and ecosystems. Early life stages of invertebrates are generally considered most vulnerable to environmental stress. However, few studies consider the combined effects OA and OW on survival and growth during early development of marine invertebrates, and to our knowledge, there is no information on the additional effects of oil pollution. Therefore, the aim of this thesis was to investigate the effects of combined exposure to OA, OW, and incorporating local drivers such as oil pollution on the development, morphology and physiology of three economically and ecologically important marine invertebrates. These are Northern shrimp Pandalus borealis, Northern krill Meganyctiphanes norvegica, and the green sea urchin Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis. All are cold-water species, assumed to have a narrower tolerance than more temperate species, and so could be particular sensitive to combined stressor affects. Both Northern krill and to a lesser extent Northern shrimp larvae survived experimental conditions, mirroring those predicted under a future global change scenario (combined OA and OW exposure). Neither was hatching success affected. Both shrimp and krill larvae exhibited accelerated developmental rates and incurred greater maintenance costs as a result of exposure to these stressors. Shrimp larvae showed accelerated developmental rates (-9 days), increased metabolic rates (+20 %), and increased feeding rates (+20 %), but reduced growth (- 9 %) when exposed to OW compared with the control. OA increased development rate but only at the control temperature. Although juvenile mortality of krill was not affected by predicted OA/OW conditions, metabolic rate increased significantly (+ 36 %), as did larval developmental rate, while number of moults, feeding rate and growth (- 67 %) decreased significantly (- 67 %, - 60 % and -8 % respectively). Accelerated development was accompanied by greater maintenance costs possibly due to experience a mismatch between energy supply and demand. Both species had an excess of food, and so growth reduction was more likely to be associated with higher metabolic demands in the future global change treatments. Food shortage in situ, due to variable food availability in the sea and/or mismatch with key prey species (algae and zooplankton) could result in more negative effects on growth and ultimately survival. Green sea urchins were also able to survive OA exposure, without detectable effects on hatching success. However, at day 44 post-fertilization, larval body length in the OA treatment was 9 % lower compared to the control. Furthermore, there was a significant tendency of urchin larvae to increase swimming activity in the OA conditions that might indicate compensatory feeding. Elevated maintenance and repair costs as a result of exposure to multi-stressors affected the energy budget of all the three species studied here resulting in reduced growth. Global drivers (OA and OW) resulted in trade-offs with more energy reallocated to swimming activity and metabolism, rather than growth. Exposure to oil reduced the acquisition of energy by reduced feeding which in turn resulted in less energy being available for growth. Both shrimp and sea urchin larvae showed reduced activity and feeding when exposed to oil. It is possible that the reduced swimming activity observed may be due to a narcotic effect of the oil. Furthermore, early stage sea urchin larvae showed increased mortality when exposed to oil while the older larvae did not, indicating a stage specific toxicity to oil for sea urchin larvae. The combination of global drivers and oil pollution acted additively on growth for both sea urchin and shrimp larvae. The impact of combined drivers on the size of shrimp larvae was equal the sum of the negative impacts observed for each driver: a 5 % reduction when exposed to OA and OW, a 9 % reduction when exposed to oil, and a cumulative 15 % reduction when exposed to all stressors. Similarly, the impact of combined drivers on the size of sea urchin larvae was equal to the sum of the negative impacts observed for each driver: a 14 % reduction when exposed to OA, a 9 % reduction when exposed to oil, and a 21 % reduction when exposed to all drivers. Therefore, the study demonstrated the additive physiological effects of OA, OW and a contaminant, and indicated that larval (sea urchin and shrimp) resilience to future changes (i.e. pollution) could be greatly reduced if larvae were already energy limited and severely stressed (reduced development) as a result of exposure to the global drivers. This study therefore shows the importance that the effective management of local drivers such as oil pollution could have against the backdrop of OA and OW, and emphasises that it is important to study impacts of toxicants, such as an oil pollution, in the context of predicted changes in the environment, as OW and OA are becoming major concerns. Finally, the fact that some local and global drivers seem to act additively should encourage local managers to act on local driver regulations, to obtain positive effects on local populations and environment and thereby rendering them more resilient to the negative impacts of future global drivers.
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Timmerman, Mitchell D. "The effects of a crude oil spill on the crop productivity and biological quality of an agricultural soil, and the potential for phytoremediation of crude oil-contaminated land." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1999. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape8/PQDD_0006/MQ45127.pdf.
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DeLeo, Danielle Marie. "Characterizing the Effects of Anthropogenic Disturbance on Deep-sea Corals of the Gulf of Mexico." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2016. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/407865.
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Biology<br>Ph.D.<br>Cold-water corals are an important component of deep-sea ecosystems as they establish structurally complex habitats that support benthic biodiversity. These communities face imminent threats from increasing anthropogenic influences in the deep sea. Following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout, several spill-impacted coral communities were discovered in the deep Gulf of Mexico, and subsequent mesophotic regions, although the exact source and extent of this impact is still under investigation, as is the recovery potential of these organisms. At a minimum, impacted octocorals were exposed to flocculant material containing oil and dispersant components, and were visibly stressed. Here the impacts of oil and dispersant exposure are assessed for the octocoral genus Paramuricea. A de novo reference assembly was created to perform gene expression analyses from high-throughput sequencing data. Robust assessments of these data for P. biscaya colonies revealed the underlying expression-level effects resulting from in situ floc exposure. Short-term toxicity studies, exposing the cold-water octocorals Paramuricea type B3 and Callogorgia delta to various fractions and concentrations of oil, dispersant and oil/dispersant mixtures, were also conducted to determine overall toxicity and tease apart the various components of the synergistic exposure effects. Finally, alterations in Paramuricea B3 gene expression profiles were inspected to characterize genome-wide changes induced by each treatment and putative genes under differential regulation. The experimental results provide evidence for a relatively high toxicity of chemical dispersants as compared to oil additions alone, elucidating the implications of applying oil dispersants to future oil spills. My findings revealed signatures of cellular stress in floc-exposed corals associated with xenobiotic metabolism, immune and inflammatory responses as well as transcriptional suppression of vital cellular components like ribosomal proteins. The data also suggests poor recovery potential in our coral samples exposed to floc. In addition, promising biomarker candidates were identified from the differential expression data for use in future spill-impact monitoring.<br>Temple University--Theses
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Navare, Jyoti. "Marine oil spill incidents from sea-going tankers : an idiographic exploration of the spill effects on structure, culture and behaviour in risk and collective incident management." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.394099.
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Martínez, Gómez Concepción. "Sublethal effects of chemical pollution in benthic fish species from marine Spanish waters." Doctoral thesis, Universidad de Alicante, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10045/36264.
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Mansur, Lamya Yussef. "Studies on the weathering of marine oil spills." Thesis, University of Leeds, 1991. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.305725.
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Roberts, Rubi Soto. "“Risk Management of Oil Spills Onshore,case analysis”." Thesis, KTH, Tillämpad maskinteknik (KTH Södertälje), 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-141413.
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Kalábová, Jana. "Studium antimikrobiálního účinku vybraných druhů koření." Master's thesis, Vysoké učení technické v Brně. Fakulta chemická, 2013. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-216977.
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The antimicrobial effects of cinnamon, clove and ginger (grand and fresh) extracts against Bacillus subtilis, Aspergillus niger and Pichia fermentans were studied in this thesis. Selected spices were extracted in three solvents (ethanol, water and ethyl acetate) and inhibition effect on tested microorganisms was studied using two methods disc diffusion and broth dilution methods. The antioxidant activity and total polyphenolic compounds from spices were also determined. The results showed that cinnamon and clove extracts in ethyl acetate and ethanol were a promising antimicrobial substances for all tested microorganisms. Combination of cinnamon and clove especially ethyl acetate extracts showed an aditive effect. However, in the case of broth dilution method, fresh ginger inhibited bacterial growth under optimal growth conditions of Bacillus subtilis (35 °C, pH 7, 250 rpm). Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values for all susceptible microorganisms was determined 8,3 mg/ml. The highest amounts of polyphenolic substances were found in cinnamon and clove ethanol extract and this result was in correlation with antioxidant activity.
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Deshpande, Niranjan V. "Dispersant effectiveness on oil spills impact of environmental factors /." Cincinnati, Ohio University of Cincinnati, 2007. http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/view.cgi?ucin1178046001.
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Thesis (M.S.)--University of Cincinnati, 2007.<br>Title from electronic thesis title page (viewed July 8, 2007). Includes abstract. Keywords: Baffled Flask, dispersant effectiveness, salinity, mixing speed, temperature Includes bibliographical references.
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Enzenhofer, Klaus. "Statkraft Hydro Power Plants – Oil Spills and Valuable Areas." Thesis, Mittuniversitetet, Avdelningen för ekoteknik och hållbart byggande, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-23252.
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Currently, Statkraft knows that they have oil spills from their hydraulic system, but the problem is that the amount of the oil spilled is not clear. Furthermore, Statkraft is missing a tool that can be used when decisions need to be made on what power plants that should be prioritized to be renovated next or which oil system that they should be switched to. In order to answer these points a look has been taken onto the environmental effects and the amount of oil spilled from hydropower plants, the general oil system inside a power plant, and in Kaplan turbines. Furthermore, two maps were developed: one presenting areas of interest for humans and environment around the hydropower plants and a second map about the river shorelines sensitivity to oil spills represented in form of an ESI ranked river shoreline. The maps give a general overview and can be used as a starting point to include environmental aspects into the planning and decision making process. The outcomes of the study are that more detailed information about the amount of oil spills released in small amounts from the turbines is needed. The catchment areas, where Statkraft Sverige AB has hydropower plants, which are most sensitive to oil spills, are Moälven and Nätraån. The hydropower plant with the most sensitive river shoreline is the Stennäs power plant due to a large wetland close by. Those areas should therefore be prioritized in projects about reducing the amount of oil inside Statkraft`s hydropower plants.
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Becker, Christopher J. "Control strategy for autonomous remediation of marine oil spills." Thesis, Boston University, 2013. https://hdl.handle.net/2144/12051.
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Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University<br>This thesis presents a novel formulation of a gradient-type controller to address the problem of cleaning up marine oil spills. Little work appears to have been done in developing autonomous oil spill clean-up devices, with most research efforts directed toward developing improved oil collection strategies. It does not appear that previous work in this field has included development of control algorithms specific to addressing the problem of deployment strategies for multiple clean-up devices.
This thesis provides a framework for deployment of multiple clean-up agents and makes the following contributions to the field. We first develop a mathematical representation for the effect of a clean-up agent as a line-sink and introduce this term into an existing oil spill spreading model. The augmented oil spill spreading model is simulated for a finite volume of oil released within a region Q' which contains multiple clean-up agents. Second, we use the augmented oil spreading model to develop a cost function and derive a gradient controller that seeks to maximize the oil removal rate for a system of N clean-up agents. Several key properties of the controller are presented. Finally, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our controller through a MATLAB simulation. The performance of the controlled agents, measured by the total volume of oil removed over the simulation, is compared to the performance of static and randomly moving clean-up agents.
The results from MATLAB simulations presented in this thesis demonstrate that the proposed control strategy is more effective at removing oil than static or randomly moving agents. The formulation of the control law directs clean-up devices toward areas in Q' experiencing the greatest volumetric change in oil, thereby maximizing the volume of oil that is removed by each agent. The controller presented in this thesis is adaptable to a range of clean-up devices and we present several future research avenues that could be pursued to further develop this concept.
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DESHPANDE, NIRANJAN V. "DISPERSANT EFFECTIVENESS ON OIL SPILLS: IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1178046001.
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Alawadi, Fahad A. M. "Detection and classification of oil spills in MODIS satellite imagery." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2011. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/336411/.
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Using satellite imagery to achieve an early and accurate identification of oil spills will contribute towards the reduction of their impact on the marine ecosystem. Satellite imagery provided by the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors are widely used for this task over the multi-temporal and multi-band visible near infra-red (VNIR) sensors. This is due to the SAR imaging capabilities through clouds, dust storms, soot and at night times, which limit the capability of VNIR sensors. However, gaps in knowledge exist regarding whether satellite ocean-colour sensors are capable of identifying unreported oil spills as true positives and whether they are able to discriminate them from lookalikes with the least uncertainty, particularly in arid land regions characterised with nearly cloud-free conditions. It was therefore, the goal of this research to develop reliable and robust methodology for data processing and interpretation of oil spills observed by VNIR sensors. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) is a VNIR-type sensor that was selected for this project for a number of reasons: it is characterised with adequate multi-spectral features (36 spectral bands 0.405-14.385 μm) spread over three spatial resolutions (250, 500 and 1000 m); and its data is freely distributed in near-realtime. MODIS bio-geophysical products processed in this study such as sea surface temperature (SST4 and SST) and chlorophyll-a (Chlor-a) have also proven their usefulness in providing complementary data. As a result of this investigation, two methods were proposed: The spectral contrast shift (SCS) and the surface algal bloom index (SABI). The SCS identifies oil spills and classifies their thickness by using MODIS extreme (maximum and minimum) top-of-atmosphere radiance (TOA) values in the 250 m/pixel resolution bands: the red (λ1=645 nm) and the NIR (λ2 =859 nm) measured over a relatively small area selected to encompass part of an unknown class and part of the surrounding pure sea water. The method has produced consistent and highly sensitive results independent of sun-glint illuminations. Oil spills have SCS values lying within the range 0.02-0.04±0.002 varying by 0.01 corresponding to different thicknesses of oil. The SCS succeeded also in classifying surface floating blooms having SCS values greater than or equal to 0.20. The SABI is a four-band relationship, which according to MODIS 500 m/pixel resolution, is made up of the difference between the TOA radiance responses in the NIR and the red bands (aggregated from the 250 m resolution group) to the sum of the TOA radiance responses in the blue (λ3=469 nm) and green (λ4=555 nm) bands. The SABI aims to discriminate biological floating species that may appear as an oil spill look-alike without the need to perform complex corrections for atmosphere and sun-glint effects. The SABI succeeded in classifying 95% of surface blooms that had values greater than or equal to a baseline value of -0.10. Oil spills, however, always appear at values lower than the surface bloom baseline value.
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Salam, Darine. "Fate and Impacts of Vegetable Oil Spills in Aquatic Environments." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1321367790.
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Tsui, Kai-man. "Marine oil pollution control-projections for Hong Kong /." Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 1996. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B17457701.
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Maas, Natasha. "Design of a flexible containment system for deep ocean oil spills." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/84370.
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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2013.<br>Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.<br>Includes bibliographical references (pages 153-155).<br>BP needed almost 3 months to cap the Deepwater Horizon spill; improved response techniques are needed for the future. This work presents the design and deployment plan for a new type of containment system that captures the vast majority of hydrocarbons exiting the wellhead. The structure is lightweight, flexible and modular, using a passively induced chimney affect as its working principle. It is modular to create one design that fits any number and size of wells. Modularity comes from 100m sections of thin Kevlar fabric, forming a cylinder that starts several meters above the seabed and ends several meters below the sea surface. The system is stored onshore mostly assembled until needed. The 3m-diameter shroud induces a flow that dilutes the gas to avoid hydrate formation. Yet the velocity is sufficiently small for gas to dissolve, reducing surface gas concentrations below workers' safety thresholds. The chimney effect causes a pressure differential over the material; reinforcement ribs are required to keep the system from collapsing inward. At the shroud top, the jet enters a containment pen, which is loosely attached to the shroud allowing it to ride the waves in heave, but constraining roll, pitch and yaw. The pen diameter allows oil to separate from the water; a skimmer weir in the pen collects almost pure oil and pumps it to a tanker. An air can at the shroud top provides pre-tension that restrains lateral deflections due to a uniform current, and helps reduce the collapse due to the pressure differential. The deflection and collapse are calculated for a uniform current using catenary equations. The results are used to verify the applicability of OrcaFlex, software commonly used by the offshore industry, which is then used to confirm the systems ability to satisfy design requirements under realistic conditions (a sea spectrum and non-uniform current). The 'one design fits all' objective is tested by initially designing the system for a moderate size reference well, and then scaling it up (with minor modifications) to fit the Macondo well. The results confirm that one design of the system can contain spills of moderate size in addition to those similar to the Deepwater Horizon.<br>by Natasha Maas.<br>S.M.
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Piller, Leanne M. "An intertidal monitoring program for Mobil, Port Stanvac (Sth. Australia) : anthropogenic versus natural disturbance /." Title page, contents and abstract only, 1998. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09SM/09smp6407.pdf.
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Orr, Thomas B. "Sediment toxicity associated with oil and/or brine spills in southern Illinois /." Available to subscribers only, 2007. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1324375501&sid=8&Fmt=2&clientId=1509&RQT=309&VName=PQD.
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Sundaravadivelu, Devi. "Parametric Study to Determine the Effect of Operational Variables on Oil Solidifier Performance for Oil Spill Remediation." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1447070446.
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Cade, Evelyn. "Risk, Oil Spills, and Governance: Can Organizational Theory Help Us Understand the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill?" ScholarWorks@UNO, 2013. http://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1614.
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The 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico awakened communities to the increased risk of large-scale damage along their coastlines presented by new technology in deep water drilling. Normal accident theory and high reliability theory offer a framework through which to view the 2010 spill that features predictive criteria linked to a qualitative assessment of risk presented by technology and organizations. The 2010 spill took place in a sociotechnical system that can be described as complex and tightly coupled, and therefore prone to normal accidents. However, the entities in charge of managing this technology lacked the organizational capacity to safely operate within this sociotechnical system.
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Fingas, Mervin F. "The evaporation of crude oil and petroleum products." Thesis, McGill University, 1996. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=40119.
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The physics of oil and petroleum evaporation are investigated. Literature on oil spill evaporation shows that most workers use boundary-layer equations adapted from water evaporation work. These equations predict a constant evaporation mass-transfer rate, dependent on scale size and wind speed. Evaporation was studied further by measuring evaporation of commercial oil products. An experimental apparatus for the study of evaporation was developed. Evaporation was determined by weight loss measured on a balance and recorded constantly on a computer. Examination of the data shows that most oil and petroleum products evaporate at a logarithmic rate with respect to time. This is attributed to the overall logarithmic appearance of many components evaporating at different linear rates. Petroleum products with fewer chemical components such as diesel fuel, evaporate at a rate which is square root with respect to time. The particular behaviour is shown to be a result of the number of components evaporating. Oils with greater than seven to ten components can be predicted with logarithmic equations, those with three to seven components, with square root equations. Evaporation of oils and petroleum products is not strictly boundary-layer regulated. This is largely a result of the high saturation concentrations of oil components in air, which is associated with a high boundary-layer regulated rate. Typical oil evaporation rates do not exceed that of molecular-diffusion, and thus turbulent diffusion does not increase the evaporation rates. Some volatile oils and petroleum products show some effect of boundary-layer regulation at the start of the evaporation process, but after several minutes, evaporation slows because of the loss of the more volatile components, at which point evaporation ceases to be boundary-layer regulated. Overall, boundary-layer regulation can be ignored in the prediction of oil and petroleum evaporation. A simple equation relating only the logarithm of t
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Al-Hadhrami, Mohamed Nasser. "Degradation of n-alkane fractions of Omani crude oil by bacteria." Thesis, University of Exeter, 1995. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.294439.
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Bennett, Paul. "Mutual risk : moral economy in environmental insurance." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.313039.
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Green, Joe. "Environmental management of the waste stream with specific reference to marine oil spills." Thesis, Cardiff University, 2010. http://orca.cf.ac.uk/55004/.
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Development and expansion of renewable energy generation is one of the highest political and environmental priorities facing today's Governments. Due to increased demand for green technology, the range of options for generating clean energy has expanded. In the case of energy generation from waste sources, it has been further fuelled by increasing pressure for environmentally benign waste disposal systems, burgeoning waste volumes and concerns over secondary pollution from disposed waste. An industry that is integral to energy production, and has a high profile in terms of environmental protection and pollution remediation, is oil spill response. There is scope for expanding the environmental management of the oil spill response industry to incorporate using waste oil from spill incidents as a source of fuel. In order for potential markets (in terms of environmental protection, waste management and energy generation) to be exploited, the necessary range of education and training demands must be established, developed and delivered. Education and training from grass roots to strategic management and Government levels are essential aspects in establishing the knowledge base, compliance, maintaining standards and ongoing development. This thesis examines the integration of the management of the waste stream, energy generation from waste and focuses specifically on the disposal of oil spill waste. The outputs of the research fall into two categories, (i) A series of laboratory and ex-situ field trials to quantify the potential of oil from marine spill incidents as a fuel source, to evaluate the effectiveness of pixel analysis as a mechanism to monitor the efficacy of oil spill response technologies, and to record the percentage recovery of oil and sorbent from the environment as a measure of clean up effectiveness, (ii) To examine the role and impact of education and training initiatives in disseminating scientific, technical and legislative material on bioremediation of marine oil spills. The research demonstrated that there are sufficient levels of carbon present in range of compounds of oils and sorbents from marine oil spill incidents to be utilised as fuel. Pixel analysis was established as an effective technique, oil and sorbent compound dependent, to quantify the extent to which oil had been removed from the environment. Percentage recovery was deemed a value-added data set to analyse the effectiveness of sorbents at recovering oils with varying viscosities. In terms of education and training, feedback from distance learning initiatives specifically developed for the research pathway, including undergraduate modules, and workshops and training courses for professionals and industry was analysed and integrated into the distance learning material on bioremediation. The positive nature of the feedback and subsequent suggestions for expanding the courses from all target audiences, demonstrated their impact, importance and effectiveness within the scope of the environmental management process. These recommendations contributed to the development and design of the bioremediation research.
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Lázaro, Touza Lara Esther. "Sustainability criteria : compensation preferences and WTP to avoid future oil spills in Spain." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2010. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2386/.
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This thesis explores the theoretical debate regarding the pursuit of weak versus strong sustainability (SS). It is argued that the choice between these paradigms needs better scientific information plus knowledge of citizen preferences in order to be resolved. The novelty of this research lies in providing an empirical test of Aldred (2002) and Turner (2007) who claim that investment in social capital such as schools and hospitals may be an adequate compensation measure when environmental damages occur. Following Pearce et al. (2006) and Atkinson et al. (1997) the benefits of preserving natural capital are also analysed through a contingent valuation (CV) study in which environmental damages of different sizes and consequences are depicted. The main research questions are: Are the views of elites and citizens as regards sustainability similar. Do citizens exhibit strong sustainability preferences with regards to compensation schemes. Can the use of CV help substantiate the case for strong sustainability. These research questions are answered undertaking a mixed methodological approach. Elite interviews, focus groups and a survey explore expert and non-expert views on sustainability. Statistical analyses confirm Aldred's (2002) and Turner's (2007) claim. However, a significant number of respondents choose natural capital as the preferred compensation option. Multinomial logit models used show the main characteristics that determine the likelihood of choosing a given compensation option. Answers to the compensation question leads to the expectation that respondents to the valuation question will pay significantly more to avoid larger environmental damages. This expectation is confirmed by the statistical analyses undertaken. Interval data models provide information on the variables that determine willingness to pay. The results are encouraging as they signal scope sensitivity but doubts remain over whether CV can adequately capture preferences when evaluating environmental losses as willingness to pay amounts are not proportional to the damages described.
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Larsson, Steinar. "Crisis communications : an examination of spokespersons use of response strategies in newspapers during the Sea Empress and Exxon Valdez groundings." Virtual Press, 1997. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/1061883.
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This study was a replication of Fitzpatrick and Rubin's study of response strategies used in crisis communication. It differed though, in the type of crisis analyzed. While Fitzpatrick and Rubin studied cases of sexual harassment, this study examined oil spills of two supertanker groundings. Both the Exxon Valdez and the Sea Empress groundings, and especially Acomarit and Exxon, the companies responsible were examined by using content analysis. Units of analysis were statements by each company's spokesperson covered in either four American or four Norwegian newspapers. These statements were then categorized as one of four response strategies defined by Fitzpatrick and Rubin which were as follows: (1) The traditional public relations strategy, (2) The traditional legal strategy, (3) Mixed strategy, and, (4) Diversionary strategy.On behalf of these response strategies the study stated two hypotheses:H1: The spokespersons of Acomarit used the traditional public relations strategy significantly more than the traditional legal strategy, as defined by Fitzpatrick and Rubin, in Norwegian newspapers.The hypothesis was accepted.H2: The spokespersons of Exxon used the traditional legal strategy significantly more than the traditional public relations strategy, as defined by Fitzpatrick and Rubin, in American newspapers.The hypothesis was partially accepted.The study used an American and a Norwegian coder to secure reliability. Holsti's coder reliability test yielded eighty percent for the American statements, and seventy percent for the Norwegian statements.The study also indicated that the traditional public relations strategy was the most used response strategy. This was different to what Fitzpatrick and Rubin found in their study. They found the traditional legal strategy was used the most in cases of sexual harassment.However, both Exxon and Acomarit used the traditional public relations strategy more than the traditional legal strategy, but differed significantly in their use of mixed strategy and diversionary strategy. Exxon was found to have used the diversionary strategy significantly more than Acomarit. The researcher indicated that this may have been one of the contributing factors which lead to Exxon's public relations nightmare. In addition, Exxon was found to have used more spokespeople than Acomarit, which in turn may have made it difficult to centralize the information flow.<br>Department of Journalism
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Beenk, Elliott E. "Smooth cord grass (Spartina alterniflora) response to simulated oil spills in sediment-water microcosms." Thesis, The University of Iowa, 2013. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=1545453.
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<p> Simulated oil spills were created in <i>S. alterniflora</i> sediment-water microcosms to determine the effects of applied crude oil on <i> S. alterniflora</i> during two 90-day studies. In the first experiment, oil dosage was varied at 0-250 mg crude oil/g wet soil to determine the lethal dosage level. In the second experiment, oil type, dosage, and soil type were varied to determine the effects of oil under multiple scales of resolution. A light, medium, and heavy crude oil at dosages ranging from 0-150 mg crude oil/g wet soil were used in addition to an oiled and non-oiled soil. Following the completion of the 90-day experiment, several key findings were observed: (1) The lethal dosage limit was reached at 250 mg crude oil/g wet soil during the first experiment but not the second, by design; (2) At initial dosages of 10 and 50 mg crude oil/g wet soil, the oiled soil (acclimated for 4 months) was more influential in decreasing cumulative biomass growth rates compared to oil applied at the oil-water interface; (3) At the heaviest dosages applied as a simulated oil slick, concentrations of 150 mg crude oil/g wet soil, evapotranspiration rates were negatively affected by the oil (significant at p=0.05 in a one-tailed t-test); (4) Light, heavy, and then medium crude oil showed the lowest biomass growths, in that order, indicating that light crude oil was the most toxic in these microcosm experiments with <i> S. alterniflora;</i> (5) The 10 mg oil/g wet soil out-performed the 0 mg oil/g wet soil in transpiration and biomass growth.</p>
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Hoeberechts, Veronica Anne. "Oil Spills in New Zealand's Territorial Waters: Fence at the Top of the Cliff?" The University of Waikato, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10289/2406.
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Over the last four decades, there have been many catastrophic oil spills in the marine environment and these larger oil spills have often caused environmental devastation especially if they occurred in the coastal marine area. Serious ecological damage can also be caused from operational discharges, ballast and bilge water, from ships within territorial waters. Until now New Zealand has only had relatively minor oil spillages in its coastal waters, primarily from ships' discharge or accidental leaks in port. The possibility however of a major oil spill occurring within our coastal area is considerably higher today than 20 years ago as there has been a significant increase of all types of oil tankers/bulk carriers/container ships to New Zealand. New Zealand is an island nation that relies heavily on the marine environment for commercial operations such as fisheries and tourism and many New Zealanders enjoy recreational, aesthetic and spiritual ties to the coastal marine area. The sustainability of our territorial sea is therefore of paramount importance. A major oil spill could cause widespread ecological damage, cripple or destroy marine/tourism operations and ensure that the human values associated with the coast are lost, possibly for many years. The research reported here addresses the issue of oil spill preparedness and response in New Zealand's waters. A combination of a review of New Zealand's international commitments and domestic legislation and two case studies of high profile oil spills: the Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve and the Jody F Millennium are used. The research identifies whether the present environmental legislation, that promotes sustainable management, is proactive in the prevention of a major oil spill and concludes that the New Zealand approach reflects a relatively strong Sustainable Imperative position rather than one of Sustainable Development. In implementation it relies heavily on co-management integrated at the regional council level.
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Al-Hargan, Ali Abdulla Qassim Khamis. "Creation of a coastal zone information system for Qatar using remote sensing and GIS." Thesis, University of Southampton, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.241793.
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Dos, Santos Pereira Maria da Gloria. "Bacterial degradation of linseed and sunflower oils in salt marsh sediments." Thesis, Bangor University, 1999. https://research.bangor.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/bacterial-degradation-of-linseed-and-sunflower-oils-in-salt-marsh-sediments(4697b1cb-815d-46a6-8b52-880c0cfcf62c).html.
Full textAbstract:
This work investigated the consequences of vegetable oils spills in salt marsh sediments. The role of autochthonous bacteria in the oils degradation and degradative pathways were also studied 'in situ' and 'in vitro'. Simulated spills of sunflower and linseed oils revealed that both oils penetrated the sediments at a rate of 10-7 CM2 s-1. However, whereas 60% of the linseed oil had disappeared from the sediments after 2 months most of the sunflower oil remained after 6 months. Differences were noted in the adsorption of the oils to sediment particles and the depth at which they accumulate and these factors most likely influenced the route of the oil degradation and the sediments properties such as permeability. The contamination of the sediments with vegetable oils lead to a noticeable reduction in the abundance of plant roots and infauna. The abundance of aerobic, anaerobic and sulphate reducing bacteria in the sediments was increased by the addition of both oils, with linseed oil supporting greater bacterial density than sunflower oil. During the course of the experiment the relative abundance of oil degrading bacteria also increased. As a consequence of the increased bacterial activity, the sediments pH and Eh decreased and anoxic conditions were established, earlier in the case of linseed than that of sunflower oils. The degradation of the oils appeared to be a sequential process, initiated by the aerobic and/or anaerobic bacteria and continued by the sulphate reducing bacteria which themselves where unable to utilise the raw oils. The original composition of both oils underwent alterations mostly associated with their main fatty acid: the concentration of 18: 3(o3 and 18: 2o)6 in linseed and sunflower oil, respectively, decreased whereas that of the remaining fatty acids increased. As a result of the bacterial degradation of the vegetable oils 'new' fatty acids were detected and their identification was attempted using GC-MS analysis of their picolinyl and methyl esters. Various degradative pathways of linseed and sunflower oils involving the formation of the 'new' fatty acids are suggested with isomerisation, hydrogenation and P-oxidation as the primary routes for the degradation.
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Novelli, Guillaume. "Numerical simulation of oil spills in coastal areas using shallow water equations in generalised coordinates." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/52834.
Full textAbstract:
The pollution generated by accidental marine oil spills can cause persistent ecological disasters and lead to serious social and economical damages. Numerical simulations are a valuable tool to make proper decisions in emergency situation or to plan response actions beforehand.
The main objective of this work was to improve SIMOIL, a computational model developed earlier at URV and capable of predicting the evaporation and spreading of massive oil spills in coastal areas.
Specifically, a new coastal current model, based on the resolution of the shallow water equations in generalised coordinates, has been developed and validated and then coupled to SIMOIL.
The model was specially designed to describe coastal oceanic flows over topography accounting
for Coriolis force, eddy viscosity, seabed friction and to couple with SIMOIL in domain with complex boundaries.
The equations have been discretized over generalised domains by means of finite differences of second order accuracy. The code was then implemented in FORTRAN.
The code has been validated extensively against numerical and experimental flow studies of the bibliography.
Finally, the new complete version of SIMOIL, coupling the shallow water model and the oil slick model, has been applied to the study of two accidental oil spills:
• A massive leakage from the Repsol's floating dock in the port of Tarragona
• The biggest oil spill ever occurred in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea: the 2006 Lebanon oil spill.
In both cases, the new version of SIMOIL, demonstrate more accurate predictions of the behaviour of the oil spill, specially for moderate winds with complex topography.<br>La contaminación generada por los vertidos accidentales de petróleo puede ser reducida si se actúa y si se toman las decisiones adecuadas a tiempo. Las simulaciones numéricas de vertidos de petróleo permiten predecir la evolución de las manchas de crudo.
En este trabajo, el objetivo principal era de mejorar la precisión y el rango de aplicación del código SIMOIL desarrollando e integrando al código un modelo de predicción de corrientes marinas en aguas costeras.
Se han derivado las ecuaciones de aguas poco profundas en coordenadas generalizadas. Se han discretizado las ecuaciones y el código se implementó en FORTRAN 90.
El modelo así como los métodos numéricos han sido validados con el estudio de flujos experimentales y numéricos de la bibliografía.
Finalmente, la nueva versión de SIMOIL se aplicó con éxito a dos casos físicos de vertidos de crudo:
• un vertido ficticio desde la monoboya de descarga de Repsol en el puerto de Tarragona
• un vertido real, el mas grande ocurrido en el Este del mar Mediterráneo, consecuencia de la guerra en Líbano en julio de 2006.
En ambos casos la nueva versión de SIMOIL proporcionó predicciones más precisas, especialmente para vientos moderados y topografías complejas.
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Rivollier, Laurent. "Prevention of oil spills by tankers : feasibility study of a safety and environmental index (SEI)." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/36063.
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Lawson, Jeffrey. "Towards a novel methodology for the environmental remediation of oil-polluted aqueous systems." Thesis, University of Aberdeen, 2010. http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=158583.
Full textAbstract:
Aromatic hydrocarbons are a prevalent constituent of crude oil. The refined products of crude oil such as petroleum and diesel can find their way into groundwater though oil-spillages and are also present in the oil and gas industry’s produced water. These aromatics are biorecalcitrant, however upon ingestion with water, may be metabolised to toxic intermediates that are carcinogenic or mutagenic in nature. Although some treatment technologies are available most of these are under development and are yet to be proven in the field. This illustrates the need for novel, economical and environmentally friendly technologies to be developed with a view to remediating aqueous systems that have been polluted with aromatics hydrocarbons. The supramolecular cyclodextrin molecule, with its hydrophobic interior and hydrophobic exterior seems to be an excellent molecule for the trapping of the pollutant molecules, however the inclusion complexes with this cyclic sugar are water-soluble therefore there is a need for the cyclodextrin to be rendered waterinsoluble. A study of the aqueous solubilities of some aromatic hydrocarbons that may be present in crude oil has been carried out and shows that the majority of these molecules have a degree of water solubility that may increase upon environmental weathering. The successful reaction between a solid-phase resin and the β-cyclodextrin molecule has been achieved, with the total dryness of the system being required including Soxhlet extraction of the resin with anhydrous acetone before the reaction. The reaction between β-cyclodextrin and a range of isocyanates proved unsuccessful, but a range of symmetrical aryl ureas were synthesised from their isocyanates with the influence that different activating or deactivating groups on the ring have on the propensity to form the ureas being shown. The successful alkylation between β-cyclodextrin and a series of haloalkanes has shown the effect of increasing chain length on the degree of alkylation. This reaction involved the deprotonation of the cyclodextrin by sodium hydride in anhydrous dimethyl sulphoxide followed by reaction with the alkyl iodide. Increasing the equivalents of hydride or iodide, or the reaction time did not have a noticeable effect on the degree of reaction indicating that steric constraints were limiting the degree of reaction. Testing several of these alkyl iodides gave an indication as to their tendency to uptake and remove several model pollutants that had been dissolved in water with the propylated β-cyclodextrin displaying potential for the remediation of aqueous systems that had been polluted. Several of these results were very promising leading to the conclusion that further derivatives of these alkylated sugars may be even more suitable for future research into the remediation of organically polluted aqueous systems.
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Jones, Tamsyn. "The evolution of a beat a case study of changes in environmental reporting from the 1970's to today as evident in coverage of three disastrous oil spills /." Diss., Columbia, Mo. : University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10355/6255.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (M.A.) University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006.<br>The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (June 26, 2007) Includes bibliographical references.