Quantitative Oil Source Fingerprinting and Diagnostic Ratios: Application for Identification of Soil Residual Hydrocarbon (SRH) in Waste Dump Areas within Oil Well Clusters

The elucidation of soil residual hydrocarbon (SRH) in oil-impacted dumpsite soils is aimed at distinguishing theprincipal source (municipal waste dumpsite or oil well-head clusters) of petroleum and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons inthe mangrove environment receiving mineral oil loading form mixed anthropogenic influences. Chemical fingerprints of soilspecimen were obtained on determination by gas chromatographic – flame ionization detection (GC-FID) technique using anHP 5890 series II instrument. Flt/Pyr ratios revealed the presence of petrogenic hydrocarbons while carbon preference index(CPI) showed soils composed mainly of degraded material and fossil fuels, apart from location E-2 which was loaded withnon-biodegraded biological materials using Ph/nC18 data. Elucidation of Pr/nC17 ratios showed that the retention of nonbiodegradedhydrocarbon was decimated at locations E-4 and E-6 due to reduced microbial degradation in comparison to theother field areas. Overall, the soil was insignificantly impacted by terrestrial sources, as greater magnitude came fromsurrounding oil well clusters. Therefore, soil toxicants are likely to be bio-accumulated in crops growing along proximatefarmlands, especially nypa palm fruits which are commonly consumed. It is imperative to avoid ingesting herbage or othernutriments from this area until residual oil seepages are effectively controlled and hydrocarbons have been monitored forsubstantial degradation.

کلیدواژه ها:

Soil residual hydrocarbon ، Carbon preference index ، Total petroleum hydrocarbon ، Polycyclic aromatichydrocarbon ، Eagle Island