Pelagic tar in the Mediterranean Sea

Date

1988-11

Author

Weber, K.
Loizides, L.
Golik, AF
Salihoğlu, İlkay
Yılmaz, Ayşen

Metadata

Show full item record

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Item Usage Stats

207
views

0
downloads

Floating tar samples were collected, using neuston nets, in 101 stations in the Mediterranean Sea in August–September, 1987, by research vessels of Cyprus, Germany, Israel, and Turkey. The distribution of the tar content indicates that the most tar contaminated sea is in the northeast between Cyprus and Turkey and in the Gulf of Sirte off the coast of Libya, where the mean tar content was 1847 and 6859 μg m−2, respectively. The least polluted areas were the western Mediterranean, 236 μg m−2, and the northern Ionian Sea as far east as halfway between Crete and Cyprus with mean tar concentration of 150 μg m−2. Strongly heterogeneous but overall intermediate mean values of 1347 and 876 μg m−2 were found in the Levantine Basin west and south of Cyprus, respectively. A comparison between pelagic tar data collected in 1969, in 1974 and our data shows a sharp decline in tar concentration with time, from 37,000 μg m−2 in 1969 to 9700 μg m−2 in 1974 and to 1175 μg m−2 in 1987. The geographical distribution of tar may be explained by the severe reduction in the activity of oil terminals in Israel, Lebanon and Syria which causes a reduction in tar content in the southeastern Mediterranean. The increased activity of the oil terminal in Iskenderun Bay, Turkey, and the activity of oil loading at the terminals in Libya still leave a high level of tar pollution in the Mediterranean water off these coasts. However, recent technologies in the oil shipping industry, international conventions on oil pollution of the Mediterranean, and harsher steps to administer the anti pollution laws by various countries in the Mediterranean have caused a general decline of this problem.

Subject Keywords

Pollution, Oceanography, Aquatic science

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/52033

Journal

Marine Pollution Bulletin

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/0025-326x(88)90020-3

Collections

Graduate School of Marine Sciences, Article

Suggestions

OpenMETU
Core

MAN-MADE GARBAGE POLLUTION ON THE MEDITERRANEAN COASTLINE GABRIELIDES, GP; GOLIK, A; LOIZIDES, L; MARINO, MG; BINGEL, F; TORREGROSSA, MV (Elsevier BV, 1991-01-01) Measurements of persistent litter on 13 beaches in Spain, Italy (Sicily), Turkey, Cyprus and Israel between 1988 and 1989 show that plastic items are the most abundant in the litter composition, followed by wood, metal and glass items. Remnants of fishing gear are rather rare. It appears that the quantity of litter on a beach is inversely related to its geographical distance to a population center and directly related to the number of visitors frequenting it. Seasonal fluctuations in coastal litter are caus...
Assessment of temporal variation and sources of PCBs in the sediments of Mediterranean Sea, Mersin Bay, Turkey Gedik, Kadir; İmamoğlu, İpek (Elsevier BV, 2011-01-01) Information on temporal distribution of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the coastal sediments of Mediterranean Sea, Mersin was compiled using data published between 1980 and 2009, and the present study. The first congener specific PCB results from the region yield concentration levels of Sigma(41) PCBs in sediments ranging from 0.61 to 1.04 ng g(-1). Sediment profiles show penta-, hexa- and hepta-chlorobiphenyls, specifically, #149 and 153 as the most abundant congeners in all samples. Comparison of tot...
MED POL survey of organotins in the Mediterranean Gabrielides, G.P; Alzieu, C; Readman, J.W; Bacci, E; Aboul Dahab, O; Salihoglu, I (Elsevier BV, 1990-5) A pilot survey of tributyltin (TBT) and its derivatives in Mediterranean areas was undertaken in 1988 within the framework of the MED POL activities. The areas studied were the French Mediterranean coast, the Northern Tyrrhenian coast, the Southern coast of Turkey and the Alexandria (Egypt) coastal area. 113 water samples were analysed from the first three areas and 35 sediment samples from the fourth. Samples were collected at sites selected according to differing environmental conditions and potential inp...
Trace metal levels in fish and crustacea from Northeastern Mediterranean coastal waters Balkas, Turgut I; Tuğrul, Süleyman; Salihoǧlu, Ǐlkay (Elsevier BV, 1982-06-01) Some fish and crustacea caught near the northeastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey between 1977 and 1980 have been analysed by the AAS technique for their H Hg, Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu, Fe, Ni, Cr and Mn contents. In the crustacea Portunus pelagicus (crab) and Penaeus keratherus (shrimp), the two essential elements Zn and Cu, showed a linear correlation. Among the bony fish, Upeneus moluccensis (gold band goat fish), a member of the Mullidae family, and Portunus pelagicus showed a much greater tendency to accumulate...
MESOSCALE CIRCULATION AND THERMOHALINE STRUCTURE OF THE BLACK-SEA OBSERVED DURING HYDROBLACK-91 OGUZ, T; AUBREY, DG; LATUN, VS; DEMIROV, E; KOVESHNIKOV, L; SUR, HI; DIACONU, V; BESIKTEPE, S; Duman, Murat; LIMEBURNER, R; EREMEEV, V (Elsevier BV, 1994-04-01) Results from nearly 300 hydrographic stations occupied during HydroBlack '91, a basin-wide survey performed during September 1991, reveal a complex, eddy-dominated three-dimensional circulation in the Black Sea. Except in the areas of anticyclonic eddies distributed around the periphery of the basin, the inshore portion of the Rim Current along the relatively smooth continental margin topography forms a narrow coastal jet characterized by small amplitude (approximately 20-30 km) undulations with a wavelengt...

Citation Formats

K. Weber, L. Loizides, A. Golik, İ. Salihoğlu, and A. Yılmaz, “Pelagic tar in the Mediterranean Sea,” Marine Pollution Bulletin, pp. 567–572, 1988, Accessed: 00, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/52033.