Home – Home – Jornals – Fundamental and applied issues of mining 2020 number 2

The paper presents the results of many years of research on the transformation of oil pollution which spreaded to bottom sediments due to oil spill at one of the facilities of the oil and gas complex in the territory of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia). The dynamics of changes in the content of chloroform extracted bitumens for the period from 2007 to 2017 is considered. The features of biodegradation of oil pollution based on the results of studying the chemical composition of bitumens are considered. It is found that in the absence of new oil spills for 11 years, the chemical composition of bitumens changed in the direction of approaching the composition of native organic matter by 2017. The composition is characterized by the presence of compounds typical for higher plant lipids: presence of high-molecular n-alkanes (nC₂₃ - nC₃₃), significant predominance of n-alkanes with an odd number of carbon atoms in the molecule, a high content of oxygen-containing groups and bonds in the chemical structure of bitumens. The performed studies showed that the hydrocarbon state of bottom sediments changed from typical oil pollution at the start of monitoring (2007) to the state typical for natural background (2017).