Phytoremediation of polluted soil at two sites in the district of Klaipeda (Lithuania)

Abstract

The vegetation cover of two sites contaminated with heavy fractions oil products:Klaipeda State Oil Terminal (KSOT) of 130,000 sq. m area, and Pauoscio RailwayStation (PRS) of 60,000 sq. m area-has been investigated.It has been established, that phytotoxical effect begins with heavy oil concentrationsreaching I 000 g/m2 or 5 000 mg per l kg of dry soil. Such heavy oil containsp-edominantly tar (by 55 percent) and light hydrocarbons (below C28) composed of thefollowing factions (in percentage): paraffin-naphtene hydrocarbons - 15, olefins andcyclodiolefines -5, alkilaromatic - l, alkidiaromatic -4, polyaromatic -20.Also, plant species and communities have been identified. The KSOT site has been foundto nurture 271 species of vascular plants. The most part of this flora consists of referralplants aD'.I those specific for littoral sands. The most polluted area has been found tonurture 38 plant species.The most resistant to the fuel oil pollution are plants having long rootstocks and longtaproots: Calamagrostis epigejos, Carex hirta, Elytrigia repens, Leymus arenarius, Poacompressa, Artemisia campestris, Cirsium arvense, Convolvulus arvensis, Tanacetumvalgare, Tussilago farfara. Some of them can be used in ex-situ remediation of the oilpolluted soil at biodegradation ranges. They can also be used as model plants inexperimental selection of cultivated plants for bioremediation purposes.