Oil Pollution in the Northern Coasts of the Persian Gulf Requires Clean- up

Coastlines in the Persian Gulf have always been prone to chronic pollution but never to the extent occurred in the 1980's and 1991. Northern coasts of the Persian Gulf were exposed to huge volumes of spilled oil resulting from destructive military activities of the former Iraqi regime. Although international agencies had reported about the extent of coastal oil pollution, there were very little qualitative and quantitative information available. In this research recent state of coastal oil pollution was investigated. Profiles of sediments were analyzed by collecting 1m deep cylindrical cores in 18 muddy and sandy beaches of Bushehr province, at the northern coast of the Persian Gulf. Total petroleum hydrocarbons in samples were determined using pyrolsis fumes in a Pollut- Eval analytical instrument equipped with a flame ionization detector (FID). Results indicated presence of weathered and fresh oil pollution in sediments. Extent of oil pollution, necessity and means of clean-up are discussed.