The Isiokpo oil-pipeline leakage: Total organic carbon/organic matter contents of affected soils

The environmental impact of the 1997 leakage of the high-pressure crude-oil pipeline at Isiokpo in the Niger Delta in the southeast of Nigeria was evaluated, with particular reference to total-organic-carbon (TOC) and total-organic-matter (TOM) contents of soils within the vicinity of the oil spillage. The soils, taken from depths of 0 - 15 cm (surface) and 15 - 30 cm (subsurface), were found to be more acidic (pH 4.2 - 5.6) than the unpolluted soils, with a high average moisture content of 6.8%. The extractable hydrocarbon content ranged from 2.71 - 3.48 mg/kg, indicating hydrocarbon contamination. However, contrary to expectation, the TOC and TOM contents of the polluted soils did not show any significant increase in concentration, supposedly due to natural rehabilitation of the affected mat layer of soils. Thus, notwithstanding the possible proliferation of heterotrophic organisms by the presence of the added petroleum hydrocarbons, environmental conditions such as weathering and climatic predispositions, as well as physico-chemical parameters such as pH, moisture content, and temperature must have encumbered the carbon-mineralizing capacity of the heterotrophs, thereby reducing the turnover of carbon and the decomposition of organic matter. The restrictions by high moisture content might not come directly from H2O itself, but are probably a consequence of hindered soil ventilation, which reduces O-2 supply and gaseous diffusion, conditions that might have been substantially aggravated by the added petroleum hydrocarbons.