Galina Antonovna KOLYUCHKİNA, Nikolay Aleksandrovich BELYAEV, Vassily Albertovich SPİRİDONOV, U.V. SİMAKOVA

Long-term Effects of Kerch Strait Residual Oil-Spill: Hydrocarbon Concentration in Bottom Sediments and Biomarkers in Mytilus galloprovincialis (Lamarck, 1819)

Tamanskij Bay opens into the Kerch Strait which connects the Black and the Azov seas and houses the shallow ecosystem which is the most important in the Russian part of the Black Sea. This ecosystem is dominated by sea grasses (Zostera marina etc). We have been studying bottom sediment hydrocarbons distribution and biomarkers of the pollution in Mytilus galloprovincialis for two years after the wreck of "Volgoneft' 139" and spilling of more than 1.5 thousand t of residual oil in the Kerch Strait in November 2007. The high level of hydrocarbons in bottom sediments was observed within the analysis of samples taken in 2008 (to 1.5 mg/g). The hydrocarbon level in bottom sediments significantly decreased by July 2009. The n-alkanes distribution analysis reveals two following pollution sources in study area: accidental pollution by residual oil after spill and local pollution sources related to the settlements and the ports. The study of biomarkers in mussels indicated the oil spill pollution effects only. As the considered study reveals, at present the ecosystem overcomes the negative effects of the oil spill due to its selfpurification sources. However, in case of the recurrent pollution, the situation may change.

PDF

___

Belyaev, N.A., Kolyuchkina, G.A., Shapovalova, E.S. and Simakova, U.V. 2009. Investigations of long-term effects of November 2007 Kerch strait black oil spill. Proceeding of International Conference Medcoast- 2009, 10-14 November, Sochi, Russia.

Brjancev, V.A. 2005. The possible ecologic effects of Tuzla dike building (Kerch strait). Morskoi Ekologicheskij Jurnal, 4(1): 47-50. [in. Russian]

Chikina, M.V. 2009. The mecroozoobenthos of the soft bottom Black Sea North Caucasian Coast: the space structure and long-term dynamic. PhD thesis, Moscow: Russian Academy of Sciences.

Dailianis, S., Domouhtsidou, G.P., Raftopoulou, E., Kaloyanni, M. and Dimitriadis, V.K. 2003. Evaluation of neutral red retention assay, micronucleus test, acetylcholinesterase activity and a signal trans duction molecule (cAMP) in tissues of Mytilus galloprovincialis (L.) in pollution monitoring. Mar. Env. Res., 56: 443-470.

Eremeev, V.N., Ivanov, V.A. and Iliin, Yu.P. 2003. Oceanographic conditions and ecological problems of Kerch strait. Sea Ecological Journal, 2(3): 67-75. [in. Russian].

Krivenko, V.G. 2000. Wetlands in Russia. Volume 3. Wetlands on the Ramsar Shadow List. Wetlands International Global Series N 3. Moscow, 490 pp. [in Russian].

Lomakin, P.D. and Spiridonova, E.O. 2010. Natural and anthropogenic changes in fields of the main abiotic elements of ecologic complex of Kerch strait during the Sevastopol, 118 pp. [in Russian] JeKOSI-Gidrofizika.

Ovsienko, S.N., Fashchuk, D.J., Zatscepa, S.N. et al. 2008. Storm 11 November 2007 in the Kerch Strait: chronicle of avents, mathematical simulation and geography-ecological analysis. Proceedings of SOI. 211: 308-340. [in Russian].

Shkapenko, V.V., Kadoshnikov, V.M., Gorlitskiy, B.A. and Pisanskaya, I.R. 2007. Transformation of hydrocarbons in water and sediments. Sbornic Nauchnih Trudov Instituta Geochimii Okrujaushej Sredi, 14: 102-108. [in Russian]

Shnyukov, E.F. and Palanskij, M.G. 1979. The geologic significance of some geochemical investigations of modern bottom sediments of Kerch strait. in: Lithologic-geochemical conditions of bottom sediments formation, Naukova Dumka, Kiev: 3-17. [in Russian].

Sovga, E.E., Bashkirceva, E.V. and Stepanyak, Yu.D. 2009. The Kerch strait aquatory state before catastrophic events November 2007. Ekologichna bezpeka pribregnoj ta shelfovoi zon ta kompleksne vikoristannya resursiv shelfu: ?b. nauk. pr. Sevastopol, 17: 184-193. [in Russian]

Sunila, I. 1987. Histopathologycal effects of environmental pollutants on the common mussel, Mytilus edulis L. (Baltic Sea), and their application in marine monitoring. PhD thesis, Helsinki: University of Helsinki.