Types of Oil and Their Properties
Type 3: Medium Oils (Most Crude Oils)
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| Fig.1Medium Oil UCSB Geog Dept. (2001) |
A general summary of how medium oil can affect shorelines (taken from NOAA, 2001):
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About one-third of this oil will evaporate within 24 hours after being spilled.
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Oil contamination of intertidal habitats and species can be severe and long-term.
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Impacts of medium oil to waterfowl and mammals can be severe.
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The clean up of medium oil can be effective if conducted quickly, however it has the potential to interfere with many types of recovery equipment.
| Field-Determined Oil Type | Designation | Representative Oils | Diagnostic Properties | Physical / Chemical Properties | |||||
| C | Heavy sticky oils. | Residual fuel oils; medium to heavy asphalitc and mixed-base crudes. | Typically opaque brown or black, sticky or tarry, viscous, cannot be rinsed from plant sample by agitation. | High viscosity, hard to remove from surfaces, tend to form stable emulsions, high specific gravity and potential for sinking after weathering, low substrate penetration low toxicity (biological effects due primarily to smothering). | |||||
| Tab.1Type 3 - Medium Oils (Breuel, 1981) | |||||||||
