Abstract:

This paper reports for the first time on the petroleum pollution in the water and biological samples collected in the adjacent waters of the south Fildes Peninsula, Antarctica. The results of the determinatin of surficial water samples indicate that the investigated sea area has been markedly polluted by oil.Among the investigated stations, station A,at the front of the Great Wall Station of China was the least polluted, the oil concentration in water samples was 512.25 μg/L, slightly higher than the maximum permissible concentration of class 3 water stipulated in the "Criteria for Sea Water Quality in China",the oil pollution in the front cove of Chile Station and Sea Harbor was the heaviest, reaching 4149.23 μg/L and 4169.72μg/L, respectively, being 8 times the oil content of sea water in the front cove of the Great Wall Station. Several species of marine organisms were contaminated with oil in varying degrees, the organisms in intertidal zone were markedly more heavily contaminated with oil than fish. In view of the fact that the investigated sea areas have been markedly polluted and that it is hard to remove the oil once it enters Antarctic sea areas, and for the purpose of protecting the ecological environment of Antarctica, it is very necessary to make a thorough study of the process of purification of oil as well as the effect of petroleum pollution on ecosystems.