Course id: 49438

Fate of Oil in the Marine Environment

Once oil enters the marine environment, it undergoes complex processes that disperse and degrade the oil. The natural behaviour of spilled oil is termed as weathering. This VLU will investigate the main processes that cause oil to weather. These include spreading, evaporation, dispersion, emulsification, dissolution, oxidation including photooxidation, sedimentation and biodegradation.

Learning objectives

To investigate the processes of weathering of oil in the marine environment
To look at the chemical, physical and biological dispersion and break up of spilled oil

Rating

Learning Time: 25 min

Difficulty: easy

Premises

To have an understanding of sources of oil into the marine environment

Introduction to the Marine Environment

Continuative Learning Units

Keywords

Weathering, Oxidation, Dispersion, Sedimentation, Marine Environment, Photooxidation, oil, emulsification, dissolution, Biodegradation

Authors

Sue Boyes, Prof. Michael Elliott

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