Tar pollution on Saudi Arabian Gulf beaches

Abstract

The abundance of beach tar on Saudi Arabian Gulf beaches was surveyed over a 20 month period from May 1985 to October 1986. Tar abundance ranged up to ten times values previously reported for areas elsewhere in the Arabian Gulf and 100 times upper values reported for other world regions. Tar concentrations of greater than 10 kg m −1 of shoreline commonly occurred, while values in the 1–10 kg m −1 ranges were frequent. By comparison, beach tar concentrations reported for other areas have generally been in the g m −1 range. Beach tar abundances were highly variable in space and time, and the highest values obtained were more related to recent oil spills than to seasonal changes in prevailing oceanographic conditions. The importance of frequent and repetitive sampling to determine maximal beach tar abundances for an area is emphasized by these results.