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Sources of Oil Spill Pollution

Oil spills may be both of natural and anthropogenic sources:

  • Natural - such as oil seeps from the bottom of oceans which enters the marine environment. Crude oil is formed during long periods of time through natural processes involving organic matter from dead organisms. Thus, oil exists in many environments and may be naturally spilled due to various factors (including climatic conditions, disturbance, etc.). Such natural oil spills may occur in oceans, due to eroding of sedimentary rocks from the bottom of the ocean (the effect may be similar with that of an accidental oil spill from human drilling in oceans such as the recent BP oil spill from the Gulf of Mexico)
  • Anthropogenic – including accidental oil spills (such as the recent BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico) as well as leaks and spills due to a large variety of human activities related to oil refining, handling and transport, storage and use of crude oil and any of its distilled products.

Thus, it is evident that a variety of sources for oil spill and a variety of ways the oil could be spilled exist. While various anthropogenic and natural sources for oil spill pollution determine the type and amount of oil spilled, as well as the location of the oil spill, the type of the oil spill pollution is important for the fate of the spilled oil and its impact on humans and the environment. For example: a sudden oil spill involving large amounts spilled (thousands or even millions of gallons - such as that from an oil tanker failure or due to accidents in offshore drilling) could have disastrous effects due to the high concentrations of released contaminants and the difficulty to remediate such big spills. At the same time, an oil spill involving small but continuous releases such as those from leaking pipelines or road runoffs may have little visible effect (they are naturally attenuated usually due to microbial degradation as well as due to many chemical-physical processes.

The type, amount of oil discharged and its location will dictate the oil spill cleanup efforts, which could involve deployment of adsorbent booms, controlled burning, bioremediation, emulsification using detergents for increased degradation.

If you found a source of oil spill pollution or you think you have been affected by an oil spill, please contact us