Hydrocarbon flows in the sediments of water bodies: Approaches to the identification of the origin of pollution

The income of oil and products of its processing into the environments is really significant. To organize the monitoring of the marine environment and assessment of the contamination processes different approaches are developed allowing the identification of the source of pollution and estimation of its role in the formation of the non-equilibrium system of the sediments in the water bodies. The wide used method of the identification of sources of the hydrocarbon pollution is calculation of indicator ratios of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Because of the existence of PAH-isomers with different properties coming from different sources, it is possible to identify the genesis of the pollution and in some cases its’ age. In our study we test the most wide used ratios and examine the possibility of its use for the purposes of the identification of hydrocarbon flows. Calculations showed that the analysis of individual indicator ratios sufficiently informative. For some ratios was shown significant difference of calculated values from presented in the literature critical values. Maximal efficient is the analyses of a complex of ratios. So, it is possible to study the behavior of hydrocarbon flows in sediments. In contrast to existing perceptions of sediments as the storage medium, we propose to consider them as non-equilibrium geochemical system with a continuous exchange of matter and energy between the components and supersystem. When interpreting the indicator ratios it is necessary to make correctives taken into account methods used for extraction and detection of PAHs, the specificity of the polluted environment, the age of pollution, nature of the source of PAHs, their concentration and behavior models. © SGEM2016.