Mirvakili, H.S., Zaker, N.H., Imani, F., 2013. Evaluation of Oil Pollution and Origin in Surface Coastal Sediments of Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf

Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf is the major oil export terminal of Iran. More than 90% of the Iranian crude oil is exported through the sea oil terminals in this Island. The marine environment of the Kharg Island has been exposed to oil pollution, for several decades, from extensive oil extraction, transportation and refinement. The accidents of oil tankers and the discharges of oily wastewater from crude oil tanks, oil refineries and petrochemical industries are the major sources of the discharge of oil into the coastal area of the Island. The gas flaring emission is another source of marine oil pollution in the Island. The studies on the marine oil pollution in the Kharg Island are very limited.

In this paper the oil pollution of the shallow coastal waters adjacent to the coastline of the Kharg Island is discussed using the analysis of the concentration of hydrocarbons in the sediment samples. Eleven sediment samples were collected around the Island in 2012. The results showed a wide range of TPH concentrations with up to 5624 μg/g in highly polluted samples from the coastal areas near the oil terminals to only a few μg/g in non-polluted areas in the northern part of the Island. PAHs concentrations in the samples were low and ranged between 9.7 and 46.7 μg/g indicating that the coastline sediments were not contaminated with these compounds. The use of several indexes indicated that the hydrocarbons in the polluted sediments were mainly from crude oil.