Zinc concentrations in the water column influenced by the oil spill in the vicinity of the Prestige shipwreck

Sixteen days after the Prestige tanker sank in the Northeast Atlantic (42º11'N, 12º02'W), a sampling campaign in the neighbouring water column was carried out in order to evaluate the posibility of zinc contamination due to the oil spill. Samples were taken in the water column (0–190 m) an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ciencias Marinas
Main Authors: R Prego, A Cobelo-García
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Spanish
Published: Universidad Autónoma de Baja California 2003
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.7773/cm.v29i1.130
https://doaj.org/article/59abb894b26a4c11b0b5728481924420
Description
Summary:Sixteen days after the Prestige tanker sank in the Northeast Atlantic (42º11'N, 12º02'W), a sampling campaign in the neighbouring water column was carried out in order to evaluate the posibility of zinc contamination due to the oil spill. Samples were taken in the water column (0–190 m) and in bottom waters –in the vicinity of the bow and stern– where the tanker lies (3520–3820 m). Total zinc concentrations found ranged from 14 to 571 nM, which are from one to two orders of magnitude higher than typical concentrations in these waters (0.2–3.2 nM). Therefore, a contamination by this metal, contained in the oil spilt from the tanks of the sunken ship, was detected. Zinc was also found to be a good tracer to detect the presence of fuel in those areas free of patches.