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The influence of Fe(III) on oil biodegradation in excessively moistened soils and sediments

  • Degradation, Rehabilitation, and Conservation of Soils
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Abstract

Soils are self-purified from oil slowly, in the north, in particular, where hydromorphic conditions and low temperatures hinder the process. Oxidation of oil hydrocarbons depends on the type of electron acceptors and decreases in the following sequence: denitrification > Mn4+ reduction > Fe3+ reduction > sulfate reduction > methanogenesis. Usually, not all of these redox reactions develop in contaminated excessively moistened soils and sediments. Fe(III) reduction and methanogenesis are the most common: the latter is manifested near the contamination source, while the former develops in less contaminated areas. Fe reduction hinders the methanogenesis. In oil-contaminated areas, Fe reduction is also combined with sulfate reduction, the latter intensifying Fe reduction due to the formation of iron sulfides. Concurrently with oil degradation in excessively moistened soils and sediments, the composition of iron compounds changes due to the increasing Fe(II) share magnetite, as well as siderite and ferrocalcite (in calcareous deposits), and iron sulfides (in S-containing medium) are formed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Soil Science Faculty, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Vorob’evy gory, Moscow, 119991, Russia

    Yu. N. Vodyanitskii, S. Ya. Trofimov & S. A. Shoba

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  1. Yu. N. Vodyanitskii
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  2. S. Ya. Trofimov
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  3. S. A. Shoba
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Correspondence to Yu. N. Vodyanitskii.

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Original Russian Text © Yu.N. Vodyanitskii, S.Ya. Trofimov, S.A. Shoba, 2015, published in Pochvovedenie, 2015, No. 7, pp. 877–886.

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Vodyanitskii, Y.N., Trofimov, S.Y. & Shoba, S.A. The influence of Fe(III) on oil biodegradation in excessively moistened soils and sediments. Eurasian Soil Sc. 48, 764–772 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064229315070121

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