Temporal monitoring of oil contamination related to coastal geodiversity in the municipality of Cabo de Santo Agostinho, PE

Abstract

During the months of August to November 2019, the coastal region of all nine Northeastern states was the scene of what is already classified as the biggest environmental disaster of the Brazilian coast. Five months after the first oil stains appeared, different federal government agencies are still trying to clarify the origin of the environmental disaster that hit beaches in nine states in the Northeast and two in the Southeast (Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro). Both the Navy's investigations and the Federal Police's efforts have not yet reached a conclusion. This research project aims to apply techniques of observation, collection and analysis of material in a systematic/temporal way the temporal monitoring of the contamination based on what was done in the case of similar accidents, such as the Exxon Valdez, and to define differences and similarities in the pattern of resilience of the contaminant, in relation to the different geodiversity of the affected sites, such as the coast of Alaska. The purpose of this research is to temporally monitor the contamination of the oil on the coast of the municipality of Cabo de Santo Agostinho, in relation to the control and response exercised by the local geodiversity in the process of permanence of the contaminant. For this reason, the characterization of the lithological types on the coastline of Cabo de Santo Agostinho - PE, which were impacted by the spill, will be carried out through surface and subsurface mapping in the proposed region (sandy beaches, rocky shores, hard surfaces such as corals and beachrocks); evaluation of the effect of contamination through analysis of macroscopic characteristics (fractures; columnar joints; faults; vesicles; differential erosion structures, etc.) and microscopic of contaminated lithological types in the study area. This research will also allow the development and evaluate the high resolution geoenvironmental characterization technologies adapted to the Brazilian reality, in order to identify in the field itself the presence of oil contaminants in sediments. Thus, the research intends to contribute to the improvement of the investigations of contaminated areas, especially in the case of the municipality of Cabo de Santo Agostinho, which represent the critical and limiting factor for efficient and effective remediation. In addition, it is also an objective of this research to contribute to the elaboration of a set of maps that show the relative occurrence of the contamination, according to the geological diversity of the region, and the temporal effect of the contamination captured by the monitoring. (AU)