Contrasting impacts of localised versus catastrophic oil spills in mangrove sediments

Several truckloads of mixed waste oil were dumped onto a short section of road and into the intertidal wetlands near Cairns, Queensland in January, 1994. The oil contaminated a band of mangroves 15–44 m wide along approximately 200 m of road. Impacted marsh included Melaleuca forest and high-intertidal mangroves. The initial concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbons in surface sediments reached 17% of the dry weight in heavily impacted areas. These high concentrations observed in limited spatial areas were similar to those observed over large spatial areas after a catastrophic oil spill in Panama in 1986. No large scale biological damage was observed from this localised spill. Clean up efforts and natural dissipation processes reduced sediment hydrocarbon loads to non-acutely toxic levels in 1.5 years in the intertidal mangroves. High hydrocarbon concentrations remained in the Melaleuca sediments for at least two years post spill. Internal molecular markers were used to detail hydrocarbon dissipation and degradation rates. This study provides a contrast between impacts of localised versus catastrophic oil spills in tropical mangrove habitats.