AI Article Synopsis

  • Hydrocarbon seepage in the marine environment is often neglected due to insufficient detailed exploration data, prompting a need for better monitoring systems.
  • A relocatable and cost-effective monitoring system was tested in two Central Adriatic Sea case studies: an oil spill at 10 m depth and methane seeps at 84 m depth, using advanced detection methods.
  • The study involved measuring nutrient and hydrocarbon concentrations in the water column and sediment, with a novel use of a benthic chamber to collect water samples for analyzing contamination levels.

Article Abstract

Hydrocarbon seepage is overlooked in the marine environment, mostly due to the lack of high-resolution exploration data. This contribution is about the set-up of a relocatable and cost-effective monitoring system, which was tested on two seepages in the Central Adriatic Sea. The two case studies are an oil spill at a water depth of 10 m and scattered biogenic methane seeps at a water depth of 84 m. Gas plumes in the water column were detected with a multibeam system, tightened to sub-seafloor seismic reflection data. Dissolved benthic fluxes of nutrients, metals and Dissolved Inorganic Carbon (DIC) were measured by in situ deployment of a benthic chamber, which was used also for the first time to collect water samples for hydrocarbons characterization. In addition, the concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, as well as major and trace elements were analyzed to provide an estimate of hydrocarbon contamination in the surrounding sediment and to make further inferences on the petroleum system.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7085597PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s20051504DOI Listing

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