Abstract
STUDIES on oil pollution of the marine environment have received considerable attention1, especially work involving the effects of oil spills resulting from tanker accidents such as the Amaco Cadiz2. Very little attention, however, has been devoted to assessing the importance of low level, continuous, inputs of petroleum hydrocarbons to productive estuarine environments. Investigations of hydrocarbon contamination of estuaries and rivers have concentrated mainly on the impact of non-volatile hydrocarbons3 (that is, those hydrocarbons having more than 15 carbon atoms) rather than the volatile hydrocarbons emanating from sewage discharges and industrial effluents such as petroleum refineries. We discuss here the occurrence and possible fate of these volatile hydrocarbons in estuarine systems.
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KNAP, A., LE B. WILLIAMS, P. & TYLER, I. Contribution of volatile petroleum hydrocarbons to the organic carbon budget of an estuary. Nature 279, 517–519 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1038/279517a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/279517a0
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