Work

Decadal stability and forensic reliability of petroleum biomarkers in tropical coastal environments: Validating laboratory kinetics against 10-year field residues

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: H) remained virtually invariant throughout the simulation. Crucially, these ratios precisely matched authentic field residues, including 10-year archived samples from the 2008 Morning Sun incident and dynamically weathered residues from the 2017 Green Island spill. These findings establish C30-hopane as a highly recalcitrant, conservative internal standard for quantifying NAPL mass transfer in complex coastal systems. Furthermore, the systematic depletion of alkylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (APAHs) marks a kinetic shift from initial physical sequestration to chemical and microbial oxidation. This oxidative transition governs the leaching of water-soluble, toxic oxygenated PAHs (OPAHs) into underlying coastal aquifers. Ultimately, our results provide a robust, tiered forensic framework to calibrate groundwater transport models and predict the environmental persistence of legacy petroleum sources at vulnerable maritime-terrestrial interfaces.

Source: Marine Pollution Bulletin

DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2026.120267

Authors: Ying-Ju Chang, Cheng-Ting Lin

Institution: National Taiwan Ocean University

Language: English

Topic: Oil Spill Detection and Mitigation

Subfield: Pollution

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Clean water and sanitation, Climate action

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,740