Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Petroleum hydrocarbon concentrations in the surface sediments of two major sea ports, Bay of Bengal, India

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Environmental Earth Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This investigation was made to assess the seasonal accumulation pattern of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH) in sediments along the two major ports, such as Ennore and Tuticorin, located in Southeast coast of India. The level of TPH was found to vary from 2.05 to 17.47 µg g−1. To establish the relationship among the TPH with total organic carbon (TOC) and sediment components, the techniques of correlation analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) were used. The higher accumulation of TPH during monsoon season indicates that all wastes discharged on land was washed and got deposited on the Ennore coast. The significant positive correlation with TOC was noticed and the evidences indicated that the sedimentary organic carbon is acting as a strong binding agent for TPH.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abd EL, Gawad EA, Lotfy MM, Sadooni FN, Katheery BE (2008) Assessment of the oil pollution extent in the offshore sediments, Abu Dhabi. UAE Aust J Ba Appl Sci 2(3):617–631

    Google Scholar 

  • Abdullah AR, Woon WC, Bakar RA (1996) Distribution of oil and grease and petroleum hydrocarbons in the straits of Johor, Peninsular Malaysia. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 57:155–162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adeniji AO, Okoh OO, Okoh AI (2017) Petroleum hydrocarbon fingerprints of water and sediment samples of Buffalo River Estuary in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. J Anal Methods Chem 2629365:1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • AI-Abdali F, Massoud MS, AI-Ghadban AN (1996) Bottom sediments of the Arabian Gulf: III. Trace metal contents as indicators of pollution and implications for the effect and fate of Kuwait oil slick. Environ Pollut 93:285–301

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Al-Lihaibi SS, Ghazi SJ (1997) Hydrocarbon distributions in sediments of the open area of the Arabian Gulf following the 1991 Gulf War oil spill. Mar Pollut Bull 34:941–948

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Almeida M, Danielle Vasconcelos do Nascimento RA, Mafalda PO, Patired VF, Albergaria-Barbosaa ACR (2018) Distribution and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in surface sediments of a Tropical Bay influenced by anthropogenic activities (Todosos Santos Bay, BA, Brazil) Mar. Pollut Bull 137:399–407

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ananthan GA, Sampathkumar P, Soundarapandian S, Kannan L (2005) Observation on environmental characteristics of Ariyankuppam estuary and Veerampattinam coast of Pondicherry, India. J Aquat Biol 19:67–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Barakat AO, Mostafa A, Wade TL, Sweet ST, Sayed NBE (2011) Distribution and characteristics of PAHs in sediments from the Mediterranean coastal environment of Egypt. Mar Pollut Bull 62:1969–1978

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bouloubassi I, Fillaux J, Saliot A (2001) Hydrocarbons in surface sediments from the Changiang (Yangtze River) estuary, East China Sea. Mar Pollut Bull 42:1335–1346

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buchanan JB (1984) Sediment analysis. In: Holme NA, McInyre AD (eds) Methods for the study of marine benthos, vol 2. Blackwell scientific publications, pp 41–65

    Google Scholar 

  • Burns KA, Villeneuve JP, Anderlin VC, Fowler SW (1982) Survey of tar, hydrocarbon and metal pollution in the coastal waters of Oman. Mar Pollut Bull 13(7):240–247

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chouksey MK, Kadam AN, Zingde MD (2004) Petroleum hydrocarbon residues in the marine environment of Bassein–Mumbai. Mar Pollut Bull 49:637–647

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hassan HM, Castillo AB, Yigiterhan O, Elobaid EA, Al-Obaidly A, AlAnsari E, Obbard JP (2018) Baseline concentrations and distributions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in surface sediments from the Qatar marine environment. Mar Pollut Bull 126:58–62

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ni H-G, Feng-Hui Lu, Luo X-L, Tian H-Y, Zeng EY (2008) Riverine inputs of total organic carbon and suspended particulate matter from the Pearl River Delta to the coastal ocean off South China. Mar Pollut Bull 56:1150–1157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hostettler FD, Pereira WE, Kvenvolden KA, van Green A, Luoma SN (1999) A record of hydrocarbon input to San Francisco Bay as traced by biomarker profiles in surface sediment and sediment core. Mar Chem 64:115–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • IOC-UNESCO (1984) Manual for monitoring oil and dissolved dispersed petroleum hydrocarbons in marine waters and on beaches: manual and guides 13. UNESCO, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Joydas TV, Damodaran R (2009) Infaunalmacrobenthos along the shelf waters of the west coast of India, Arabian Sea, Indian. J Mar Sci 38(2):191–204

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim BSM, Bícego M, Figueira R, Siegle E, Taniguchi S, Alcántara-Carrió J (2017) Organic and inorganic contamination in sediments from Araçá Bay, São Sebastião, Brazil. Ocean Coast Manag 164:42–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim AW, Vane CH, Moss-Hayes V, Engelhart SE, Kemp AC (2018) PAH, PCB, TPH and mercury in surface sediments of the Delaware River Estuary and Delmarva Peninsula, USA. Mar Pollut Bull 129(2):835–845

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kingston PF, Dixon IMT, Hamilton S, Moore DC (1995) The impact of the Braer oil spill on the Macrobenthicinfauna of the sediments off the ShetLand Islands. Mar Pollut Bull 30:445–459

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Law RJ (1981) Hydrocarbon concentrations in water and sediments from UK marine waters, determined by fluorescence spectroscopy. Mar Pollut Bull 12(5):153–157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Law RJ, Klungsoyr J (2000) The analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in marine samples. Int J Environ Pollut 13:262–283

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • LeBoeuf EJ, Weber WJ Jr ( 1997) American chemical society division of environmental chemistry preprints of papers, 214th national meeting of the american chemical society, Las Vegas, NV, 1997; American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 1997; vol 37. pp 211–214

  • Lyla S, Manokaran S, Khan A (2012) Petroleum hydrocarbon distribution in continental shelf region of southeast coast of India. Intern J Sedim Res 27:73–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marshall AG, Rodgers RP (2004) Petroleomics: the next grand challenge for chemical analysis. Accounts Chem Res 37(1):53–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meniconi MFG, Massone CG, Scofield AL, Junior VJF (2005) Oil spill aftermath: temporal evaluation of hydrocarbon sources in Guanabara Bay, Brazil. In: Canada. Environment Canada. In: Proceedings of the Twenty-eighth Arctic and Marine Oil spill Program (AMOP) Technical Seminar, Calgary (Alberta), Canada, June (7–9): 75–92

  • Miller G, Asia L, Guiliano M, Malleret L, Doumenq P (2007) Hydrocarbons in coastal sediments from the Mediterranean Sea (Gulf of Fos area, France). Mar Pollut Bull 54:566–575

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mirsadeghi SA, Zakaria MP, Yap CK, Shahbazi A (2011) Risk assessment for the daily intake of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from the ingestion of cockle (Anadaragranosa) and exposure to contaminated water and sediments along the west coast of Peninsular, Malaysia. J Environ Sci 23(2):336–345

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mohebbi-Nozar SL, PauziZakaria MP, Ismail WR, Mortazawi MS, Salimizadeh M, Momeni M, GholamaliAkbarzadeh G (2015) Total petroleum hydrocarbons in sediments from the coastline and mangroves of the northern Persian Gulf. Mar Pollut Bull 95:407–411

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muthukumar A, Idayachandiran G, Kumaresan S, Ajith Kumar T, Balasubramanian T (2013) Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH) in sediments of three different ecosystems from Southeast Coast of India. Intern J Pharma Biol 4(3):543–549

    Google Scholar 

  • Mzoughi N, Dachraoui M, Villeneuve JP (2005) Evaluation of aromatic hydrocarbons by spectrofluorometry in marine sediments and biological matrix: what reference should be considered? C R Chim 8(1):97–102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • NRC (2003) Oil in the sea: inputs, fates, and effects. National Academy Press, Washington, p 265

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruiz-Fernández AC, Sanchez-Cabeza JA, Alonso-Hernández C, Martínez-Herrera V, Pérez-Bernal LH, Preda M, Hillaire-Marcel C, Gastaud J, Quejido-Cabezas AJ (2012) Effects of land use change and sediment mobilization on coastal contamination (Coatzacoalcos River, Mexico). Cont Shelf Res 37:57–65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sahu KC, Bhosale U (1991) Heavy metal pollution around the island city of Bombay, India. Part I: Quantification of heavy metal pollution of aquatic sediments and recognition of environmental discriminants. Chem Geol 90:263–283

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schumacher BA (2002) Methods for the determination of total organic carbon (TOC) in soils and sediments. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Sengupta R, Fondekar SP, Alagsamy R (1993) State of pollution in the northern Arabian Sea after the 1991 Gulf oil spill. Mar Pollut Bull 27:85–91

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shriadah MA (1998) Impacts of an oil spill on the marine environment of the United Arab Emirates along the Gulf of Oman. Mar Pollut Bull 36:876–879

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vagge G, Cutroneo L, Castellano M, Canepa G, Bertolotto RM, Capello M (2018) The effects of dredging and environmental conditions on concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the water column. Mar Poll Bullet 135:704–713

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vane CH, Kim AW, Hayes VM, Turner G, Mills K, Chenery SR, Barlow TS, Kemp AC, Engelhart SE, Hill TD (2020) Organic pollutants, heavy metals and toxicity in oil spill impacted salt marsh sediment cores, Staten Island, New York City, USA. Mar Pollut Bull 151(2020):110721. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110721

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Veerasingam S, Raja P, Venkatachalapathy R, Mohan R, Sutharsan P (2010) Distribution of Petroleum Hydrocarbons in coastal sediments along the Tamilnadu coast, India. Carp J Ear Environ Sci 5:5–8

    Google Scholar 

  • Venkatachalapathy R, Veerasingam S, Rajeshwari V (2012) Distribution and Origin of Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Pichavaram mangrove Swamp along Tamilnadu Coast, Bay of Bengal, India. Geochem Intern 50(5):476–480

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang XC, Sun S, Ma HQ, Liu Y (2006) Sources and distribution of aliphatic and polyaromatic hydrocarbons in sediments of Jiaozhou Bay, Qingdao, China. Mar Pollut Bull 52:129–138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang Z, Liu Z, Xu K, Mayer LM, Zhang Z, Kolker ASWu, W. (2014) Concentrations and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in surface coastal sediments of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Geochem Trans 15(1):2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang M, Wang C, Lib Y (2017) Petroleum hydrocarbons in a water-sediment system from Yellow River estuary and adjacent coastal area, China: distribution pattern, risk assessment and sources. Mar Pollut Bull 122:139–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warren E, Bekins BA, Godsy EM, Smith VK (2003) Inhibition of acetoclastic methanogenesis in crude oil- and creosote-contaminated groundwater. Ann Finance 7(3–4):139–149

    Google Scholar 

  • Yan DN, Xu H, Lan JH, Zhou KG, Ye YD, Zhang JX, An ZS, Yeager KM (2019) Solar activity and the westerlies dominate decadal hydroclimatic changes over arid central Asia. Global Planet Change 173:53–60

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yuan H, Li TG, Ding XG, Zhao GM, Ye SY (2014) Distribution, sources and potential toxicological significance of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in surface soils of the Yellow River Delta, China. Mar Pollut Bull 83:258–264

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yuan HW, Chen J-F, Ye Y, Lou ZH, Jin AM, Chen XG, Jiang ZP, Lin YS, Chen CTA, Loh PS (2017) Sources and distribution of sedimentary organic matter along the Andong salt marsh, Hangzhou Bay. J Mar Syst 174:78–88

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yunker MB, Macdonald MW (2003) Petroleum biomarker sources in suspended particulate matter and sediments from the Fraser River Basin and Strait of Georgia, Canada. Organ Geochem 34:1525–1541

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang HB, Luo YM, Wong MH, Zhao QG, Zhang GL (2006) Distributions and concentrations of PAHs in Hong Kong soils. Environ Pollut 141:107–114

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge authorities of Annamalai University for providing necessary facilities. Authors like to give a special thanks to Prof. T. Balasubramanian, former Director and Dean of CAS in Marine Biology, Annamalai University

Funding

This study was supported by a research project “Seawater Quality Monitoring (SWQM)” from Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India (Project File No.MoES/ICMAM-PD/ME/CAS-MB/53/2017).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS in Marine Biology, Faculty of Marine Sciences, Annamalai University, Parangipettai, Tamil Nadu, 608502, India

    Kumar Balachandar, Arumugam Sundaramanickam, Saravanan Kumaresan, Gopalsamy Idayachandiran & Ajith Nithin

Authors
  1. Kumar Balachandar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Arumugam Sundaramanickam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Saravanan Kumaresan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Gopalsamy Idayachandiran
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Ajith Nithin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

AS designed the study; KB and GI performed the sample collection and sample Analysis; AS, KB, AN and SK performed the data analysis and data processing; all authors contributed to the manuscript preparation.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Kumar Balachandar or Arumugam Sundaramanickam.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Balachandar, K., Sundaramanickam, A., Kumaresan, S. et al. Petroleum hydrocarbon concentrations in the surface sediments of two major sea ports, Bay of Bengal, India. Environ Earth Sci 80, 364 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-09642-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-09642-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation