International Journal of Marine Science 2015, Vol.5, No.52: 1-8
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this study can service as baseline for future
environmental impact assessment of oil operations.
Material and Methods
Four types of sampling sites were selected across
Basrah city for soils collection. The first type of sites
are commercial ports (Al-Fao and Um-Qasir) and their
soils were heavily influenced by oil exportation. The
second type is industrial and/or oil operational locations
including: Al-Shiabah, Al-Rumella, Kor-Al-Zubair,
and Al-burjsia. These sites are specific to anthropogenic
activities. The third type of sites is urban areas
including: Center of Basrah, Saffwan, Al-Zubair and
Al-Tanoma. The soils of these areas are generally
subject to a variety of activities in a different degrees
such as traffic, houses and workshops (mechanics,
carpentry etc), sale of goods of all kinds and petroleum
products handling facilities. The last type of sites is
rural areas (Garmat Ali, Al-Seeba, Al-Daer, Ras-Al-Bisha
and Abu Al-Khasib) and their soils considered low
contaminated and are
sometimes covered with vegetation.
A total of one hundred twenty eight (128) surface soil
samples (0-10 cm depth) were collected using hand
auger from the above stations during 2015 to account
for winter, spring, summer, and autumn seasons. The
locations in Basrah city for the collection of soils are
shown in Figure (1) and were geo-located with Global
Positioning System (GPS) to ensure consistency as
given in Table (1).
Soil samples were wrapped in aluminum foil and
placed in sterilized containers and kept in the laboratory
deep freeze. The samples then were freeze-dried,
grounded finely by agate mortar and sieved through a
62μ stainless steel sieve. The Total Organic Carbon
(TOC) in soil samples were analysed using Walkey’s
and Black titration method, in which the organic
carbon is oxidized by dichromate ions, and the
quantity of excess dichromate ions is then back
titrated with ferrous ion.
The method used to extract, fractionate, and analyzed
the hydrocarbons from the soil was based upon that of
Jeng and Huh (2006) and Tuteja et al.,
(2011) with
some modification as indicated. A 25 g amount of
freeze-dried soil was placed in soxhlet apparatus and
extracted with 150 ml benzene: methanol mixture (3:1)
for 8 hours. The extract was storage and the soil was
further extracted with fresh solvents. The combined
Figure 1 Study areas and sampling locations in the Basrah city
Table 1 Soil sampling sites in Basrah city
Stations
Location
Garmat Ali
30°48'10.6'' N
47°45'03.8'' E
Saffwan
30°07'10.1'' N
47°39'44.9'' E
Al-Qurna
31°00'24.6'' N
47°26'25.6'' E
Ras-Al-Bisha
29°56'33.8'' N
48°34'37.4'' E
Al-Seeba
30°20'16.5'' N
48°15'34.5'' E
Al-Tanoma
30°30'46.0'' N
47°51'14.4'' E
Abu Al-Khasib
30°27'44.5'' N
48°00'06.0'' E
Al-Daer
30°48'10.6'' N
47°34'49.8'' E
Al-Zubair
30°29'48.1'' N
47°44'06.6'' E
Al-Shiabah
30°27'16.0"N
47°39'43.0'' E
Al-Fao
29°58'28.6'' N
48°29'09.5'' E
Kor-Al-Zubair
30°16'45.6'' N
47°44'39.4'' E
Center of Basrah
30°33'00.0"N
47°47'10.0"E
Al-burjsia
30°23'32.3'' N
47°35'45.2'' E
Al-Rumella
30°34'08.0"N
47°21'09.0"E
Um Qasir
30°05'23.7'' N
47°56'38.5'' E
extract was then reduced in volume to 10 ml by a
rotary vacuum evaporator and was sabonified for 2
hours with a solution of 4N KOH in 1:1 benzene:
methanol. Then the extract was dried by anhydrous
Na
2
SO
4
and concentrated by a stream of nitrogen. The
concentrated extract was separated into two fractions
by column chromatography. The column contained 8g
of 5 % deactivated alumina (100-200 mesh) on the top
and silica (100-200 mesh) in the bottom which were
