Project information
Project aim
Petroleum contamination poses a major threat to Antarctic ecosystems because petroleum products are persistent and potentially toxic in the environment. Natural attenuation of most fuels and oils that are commonly used in Antarctica is very slow (decades or longer). Our intervention is required if environmental damage from petroleum spills is to be reduced or prevented. In temperate regions, remediation schemes are commonly used to breakdown petroleum spills. However, such schemes require research and modification to be effective in the cold Antarctic environment. This project is designed to provide such research and development by conducting trials on extensive petroleum-contaminated sites at Casey and Wilkes stations. The knowledge we gain from these case studies will then allow us to remediate other sites in Antarctica.
Related publications
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Response of the native springtail Parisotoma insularis to diesel fuel contaminated soils under field-realistic exposure conditions at subantarctic Macquarie Island Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, 2019
(Ref: 16299)
Category 1: Peer-reviewed literature
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Permeable bio-reactive barriers for hydrocarbon remediation in Antarctica. Contaminants in Freezing Ground: proceedings of the 7th International Conference May 24-28 Kingston, Ontario, Canada, 2010
(Ref: 14233)
Category 3: Conference paper
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Australian Research on the Assessment and Remediation of Contaminated Sites in Antarctica. XXX ATCM, CEP X Information Paper (Australian Submission), 2007
(Ref: 12854)
Category 2: International meeting papers
The Australian Antarctic Division is undertaking research to develop remediation techniques and low cost technologies to allow Australia to clean-up Antarctic and subantarctic contaminated sites in a timely and cost effective manner.
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Soil invertebrate community change over fuel-contaminated sites on a subantarctic island: An ecological field-based line of evidence for site risk assessment Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, 2016
(Ref: 15646)
Category 1: Peer-reviewed literature
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Microbial indicators of diesel fuel toxicity in polar soils PhD Thesis, University of New South Wales, Australia, 2014
(Ref: 15671)
Authors:Category 3: Thesis, higher degree