Ecological risk assessment of oil-spill affected area
: Visited after two years the Hebei Spirit oil spill, Korea
Seongjin Hong1, Jong Seong Khim1,*, Jongseong Ryu2, Jinsoon Park1, Sung Joon Song3,
Kyungho Choi4, Kyunghee Ji4, Jihyun Seo4, Sangwoo Lee4, Jeongim Park5, Woojin Lee5, Yeyong Choi6,
Kyu Tae Lee7, Chan-Kook Kim7, Won Joon Shim8, Jonathan E. Naile9, John P. Giesy9
1Division
of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, Korea 2Department of Marine Biotechnology, Anyang University, Ganghwagun, Incheon, Korea
3Marine Research Center, National Park Research Institute, Taean, Korea 4School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea 5College of Natural Sciences, Soonchunhyang University, Asan, Korea
6Citizens’ Institute for Environmental Studies, Seoul, Korea 7Institute of Environmental Protection and Safety, NeoEnBiz Co., Bucheon, Korea 8Oil and POPs Research Group, Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute, Geoje, Korea
9Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences and Toxicology Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada
*Corresponding
author. E-mail: jongseongkhim@korea.ac.kr (J.S. Khim). Presenter. E-mail: hongseongjin@gmail.com (S. Hong).
Study Design
Study Area - Residual Crudes
• Hebei Spirit oil spill occurred on the Yellow
Sea about 10 km off the coast of Taean,
South Korea, in December 2007, however,
the exposure and potential effects remain
largely unknown.
• In total, 50 surface and subsurface
sediments collected from oil spill site
(22 sampling sites) to determine
concentrations, distribution, and
composition of residual crudes and to
evaluate the potential ecological risk after
two years of oil exposure (Figure 1-2).
• Concentrations of residual crudes from
Taean oil spills primarily found in
muddy bottoms as compared to sand
surfaces, and particularly accumulated
in subsurface layers.
Figure 1
Flow chart for the integrated environmental assessment with instrumental,
bioanalytical, and community based tools applied in this study.
• Concentrations of PAHs, alkyl-PAHs, and
AHs detected in Taean sediments accounted
for 2-40% of TPHs by weight.
Figure 2
Sampling sites and distribution of crude-derived hydrocarbons in surface sediment
from Taean study area, Korea.
Weathering Characteristics of Residual Crudes
Figure 4
Weathering characteristics of residual crudes. (A) C2-Dbthio/C3-Dbthio and
C2-Phe+Ant/C3-Phe+Ant double ratios, and (B) BaA+Chr/C2-Dbthio and
C3-BaA+Chr /C3-Dbthio double ratios of all sediment samples.
-modified from Sauer et al. (1998) and Michel & Hayes (1999)-
• Overall, the degree of weathering in sediments revealed that 5U, 6U, 7U, 10U,
and 11U at Sinduri beach and Gaemok harbor weathered slightly, 14U,
15U, 15M, and 15L at Naetaebae weathered moderately, and 18M, 17L,
16L, 13U, and 18L most weathered (Figure 3-4).
Figure 3
Relative composition (%) of PAHs, alkyl-PAHs, and AHs in selected sediment (surface sediments from st. 5, 10, and 14) and crude oil
(Iranian heavy).
AhR-mediated Activity Characterization
Macrobenthic Fauna Community
Table 1
Macrobenthic fauna and sedimentary structures visually observed at sampling sites in this study.
Benthic comminity
Species name
1
2
3
4
5-9
Helice spp.a
2
2
1
Macrophthalmus japonicusa
Macrobenthic fauna
(ind. / 50 cm x 50 cm x 5)
1
• More weathered samples, which contained greater proportions of alkylated
PAHs, exhibited greater AhR activities, being consistent with the composition of
known and/or unknown AhR agonists in crude oils (Figure 5).
5
77
20
21
22
7
2
144
22
308
2
1
2
94
68
32
3/5
0/5
0/5
0/5
0/5
5/5
3/5
2/5
Shellb
a
Number of individual was estimated from counting burrows identified to be active.
b
Number of corresponding cases among five photographs.
T13 Data are not available.
3/5
2/5
0/5
3/5
• Of note, the observed macrobenthic community
suggested some species-specific tolerances
and/or recolonization of certain species, such as
Batillaria spp. during the weathering periods
(Table 1).
19
1
Periserrula leucophryna
• While the macrozoobenthos complete eradicated
immediately after the Hebei Spirit oil spill, the
macrobenthic organisms almost completely
recovered two years after the oil spill.
18
5
205
Asterina pectinifera
Figure 5
Scatter plots showing dose-response relationships between concentration of
total PAHs (log concentration) and H4IIE-luc response (%TCDDmax) for all
sediment samples. (A) geological characteristics, (B) depth of sediments,
(C) type of sediments, and (D) degree of weathering.
13
46
Batillaria spp.
Rippleb
17
2
Lunatia fortunei
Sedimentary structures
16
2
1
Umbonium thomasi
Total burrows
14-15
1
Ilyoplax spp.a
Macrophthalmus dilatatusa
10-12
5
4/5
1/5
3
13
0/5
0/5
0/5
0/5
0/5
5/5
0/5
0/5
0/5
3/5
0/5
1/5
1/5
3/5
Concluding Remark
Our integrated environmental assessment (chemical,
bioanalytical, and ecological) was successful at
1) identifying high-risk regions, 2) relationship between
toxicity and weathering, and 3) community responses,
providing useful information for long-term monitoring
and management effort in future possible oil spill.