University of Allahabad

Depertment of Botany

Under guidance of Prof. Anupam Dikshit

Prof. H.K.Kehri

Presented by:-

Sangeeta Singh Anju Devi Murya

M.Sc. III Sem

What is an Oil Spill?

• An oil spills is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially marine areas due to human activity and is a form of pollution.

• The term is usually applied to marine oil spills, where oil is released into the ocean or coastal waters, but spills may also occur on land.

• It may be due to released of crude oil from tankers, offshore platforms, drilling rigs and oil wells as well as during the transport of the refined petrolium product in vessels and tankers.

Some important Oil Spills:-

Torrey Canyon -England (March 1967)

• By an error in ship manoeuvring, releasing 93,000 tonnes of crude oil. Contaminated 300 kilometres of both England and France.

Exxon Valdez - United States (March 24, 1989)

• Eight of the eleven tanks damaged, releasing 41,000 tonnes of Alaska Northslope Crude Oil.

• Contaminated 1,900 kilometers of coast.

Kuroshima - United States (November 26, 1997)

• A 368 foot seafood freighter broke away from its

anchorage during a severe storm and ran around

spilling 145 tonnes of oil. Contaminated

approximately 10 kilometres of shoreline of Summer

Bay on the Aleutian Island of Alaska.

How do oil spills occur?

• Oil Spills may happen for several reasons:-

1. When oil tankers have equipment faults

2. From nature and human activities on land

3. Water Sports

4. Drilling works carried out in sea

What are the effects of oil spills?

• Effects on fauna in the sea

• Seabirds are strongly affected by oil spills.

• When they get covered in oil, the heavy oil weights down the birds and is unable to fly.

• Eventually, the bird will die.

The second groups of animals affected strongly are Killer Whales:-• Oil affects the killer whales in two ways.

1. Firstly, it plugs up the blowholes of the killer whales, and the killer whale will be unable to breathe.

2.Secondly, the Killer Whale may eat fish that swam through the oil, or fish already poisoned by the oil, and the killer whales too will get poisoned by the oil, and will die.

Effects on plants in the sea

• Oil Spills also affect marine plants. The oil forms a thick layer on the water surface, and this layer blocks out light and prevents gaseous exchange.

Methods Of Cleaning

• High or low pressure hoses to spray oil off beaches.

• Sorbents

▫ Large sponges that collect oil.

• Booms

▫ Collects oil off the water.• Controlled Burning

▫ Reduces amount of oil.• Skimmers

▫ Boats that removes the oil.

Ways of Preventing Oil Spills

• Navigation

▫ Coast Guard must know where

the tankers can drive.

• Inspect equipment more.

• Double Hulling

▫ 2 layers of watertight hull surface

▫ Prevent/reduces oil spills.

• Careful as possible when transporting.Double Hull

Control of Oil spills

• Oil spills on land and at sea represents some of the most dramatic examples of chemical pollution.

• Bacteria, that are especially effective in degrading petroleum products can be selected and applied to such spill.

• Pseudomonas, Desufovibria deslfuricansare used in controlling of oil spills.

Bioremediation

• Indigenous bacteria that can utilize “the spilled oil are also stimulated into activity by the additional nutrients. This is termed Bioremediation.

• Some bacteria such as Sulfate reducing bacteria which are anaerobic (can survive without oxygen) can be used to clean up oil spills are they are oil consuming bacteria.

• Bio-remediation accelerator is another approach which entails using chemicals to chemically and physically bond the hydrocarbon oil molecules.

• What this does is to cause the oil molecules to aggregate and float towards the surface of the water column.

• Undetected hydrocarbon molecules can be aggregated in this way.

Superbug:-

• Psedomonas that is able to consume all types of hydrocarbons of the oil and petrol.

• This unique strain is called “Superbug”.

• This unique strain was created by AnandaChakrabarty(1979).

Impacts of a Major Oil Spill

• Destroys Marine Life

• Destabilizes Marine Communities

• Degrades Shore Amenities

• Harms Economic Activities

• Impacts Human Welfare

Spill Impact Recovery

The recovery of the marine environment from the effects of a spill is generally thought to be “a return to the precise conditions that preceded the oil spill”.

However, this is very unlikely to happen. As such, the measurement of spill recovery is based on a comparison of unoiled sites with oiled sites of similar ecological characteristics.

Shoreline Cleanup and Assessment

When a spill occurs, Canada utilizes the Shoreline Cleanup and

Assessment Team (SCAT) process adopted from Alaska to

determine when and how each individual shoreline will be cleaned

based on geomorphological, ecological and archaeological factors.

References:-

• Principles of Microbiology by Ronald M. Atlas.

• Microbiology an Introduction by TortaFunke Case.

• Microbiology- sixth edition by John M. Prescott, John P. Harley, Donald A. Klen.

• WWW. Google Com.

Questions:-

• What is Oil Spills?

• How do oil spills occur?

• What are effects on fauna in the sea?

• What are effects on flora in the sea?

• How do control of oil Spills?

• What is Bioremediation?

• What is Superbug?

Thank you