Abstract
Almost three decades on, the negative environmental impacts arising from the burning of over 600 oil wells in Kuwait following the 1991 Gulf War are still evident. At the time of the incident, the Kuwaiti desert region became polluted with hydrocarbon, with a number of ‘oil lakes’ forming, causing critical harm to local land. This paper discusses the shifts in particle size distribution (PSD) found in soil taken from Kuwait’s Al-Ahmadi oil field, caused by aging sandy soil polluted with hydrocarbon. The analysis of changes in PSD was achieved using 16 contaminated and uncontaminated soil samples, with the samples undergoing PSD analysis along with Unified Classification Soil System (UCSS), Scanning Electronic Microscopy (SEM) and Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS) analyses.The analyses revealed a significant reduction in the mean values of both sand and silty/clay particles, which fell from 44.6% to 9.0% and 7.8% to 3.4%, respectively. The analyses also showed a significant increase in the mean values of gravel particles, rising to 44.6% from 6.1%. These results obviously clarify that the overall outcome of the alteration in soil gradation was a poorer one, which may be due to bigger particles forming out of fine particles as a result of oil contamination. The results presented in this paper are intended to support the treatment (soil washing and cement stabilisation) of contaminated sandy soil based on the insights gained into how soil grain size distribution is impacted by oil contamination.
Highlights
Kuwait is situated at the northwest edge of the Arabian Gulf and is nearly 18,000 km2 in size
Kuwait’s oil fields are typically categorized based on their northern/southern location: As illustrated in Fig. 2, it is reported that a total of 565 of Kuwait’s oil wells were set alight after the 1991 Gulf War, with an additional 74 oil wells overflowing following their demolition. This resulted in critical oil spillages across the Kuwaiti desert (Al-Besharah, 1991), with Al-Awadhi et al (1996) noting that this resulted in the formation of over 300 oil lakes, spanning an area greater than 49 km2 over both the northern and southern Kuwait oil fields
The current paper explores Particle Size Distribution (PSD) through a comparison of wet oil lake contaminated and uncontaminated soil samples from the Al-Ahmadi site
Summary
Kuwait is situated at the northwest edge of the Arabian Gulf and is nearly 18,000 km in size. Kuwait’s oil fields are typically categorized based on their northern/southern location: it is reported that a total of 565 of Kuwait’s oil wells were set alight after the 1991 Gulf War, with an additional 74 oil wells overflowing following their demolition. This resulted in critical oil spillages across the Kuwaiti desert (Al-Besharah, 1991), with Al-Awadhi et al (1996) noting that this resulted in the formation of over 300 oil lakes, spanning an area greater than 49 km over both the northern and southern Kuwait oil fields. These oil lakes, combined with hydrocarbon contamination, have resulted in significant environmental damage in Kuwait (Aldaihani, 2017)
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