Sensors (Mar 2020)

Geochemical and Geophysical Monitoring of Hydrocarbon Seepage in the Adriatic Sea

  • Marzia Rovere,
  • Alessandra Mercorella,
  • Emanuela Frapiccini,
  • Valerio Funari,
  • Federico Spagnoli,
  • Claudio Pellegrini,
  • Andree Soledad Bonetti,
  • Tiziana Veneruso,
  • Anna Nora Tassetti,
  • Marcello Dell’Orso,
  • Marco Mastroianni,
  • Giordano Giuliani,
  • Rocco De Marco,
  • Gianna Fabi,
  • Francesco Ciccone,
  • Ilaria Antoncecchi

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/s20051504
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 20, no. 5
p. 1504

Abstract

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Hydrocarbon seepage is overlooked in the marine environment, mostly due to the lack of high-resolution exploration data. This contribution is about the set-up of a relocatable and cost-effective monitoring system, which was tested on two seepages in the Central Adriatic Sea. The two case studies are an oil spill at a water depth of 10 m and scattered biogenic methane seeps at a water depth of 84 m. Gas plumes in the water column were detected with a multibeam system, tightened to sub-seafloor seismic reflection data. Dissolved benthic fluxes of nutrients, metals and Dissolved Inorganic Carbon (DIC) were measured by in situ deployment of a benthic chamber, which was used also for the first time to collect water samples for hydrocarbons characterization. In addition, the concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, as well as major and trace elements were analyzed to provide an estimate of hydrocarbon contamination in the surrounding sediment and to make further inferences on the petroleum system.

Keywords