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December 02-03, 2019 | Dubai, UAE
Oil & Gas
2
nd
International Conference and Expo on
Journal of Industrial and Environmental Chemistry | Volume 3
Arid ecosystem resiliency to total petroleum Hydrocarbons disturbance: A Case
study from the State of Kuwait associated with the second gulf war
Meshal M Abdullah
1
, Amjad T Assi
2,
Mansour T Abdullah
3
and
Rusty A Feagin
4
1
Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Texas A&M University, USA
2
Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department, Texas A&M University, USA
3
The Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, Kuwait
4
Department of Ocean Engineering, Texas A&M University, USA
T
he world’s largest Hydrocarbon disturbance occurred
in the deserts and offshore waters of Kuwait during
the Second Gulf War in 1990-91. In this research, RS and
GIS techniques were utilized to explore how native desert
vegetation was recovered from hydrocarbon contamination
after the Second Gulf War. By using RS techniques, change
detection analysis was conducted to understand the changes
about the coverage and extent of the TPH contamination
and vegetation recovery. These changes were traced from
1991 until the hydrocarbon was no longer visible on the
ground surface in 1998. GIS spatial analysis was conducted
to determine themajor ecosystem factors that influenced the
vegetation recovery along with the removal of hydrocarbon
disturbance. According to the results, autogenic recovery
occurred at both sites within a few years and that desert
native vegetation was found to have the ability to adapt
and recover from hydrocarbon pollution. Native vegetation
recovered across 31% of the TPH contaminated areas at
Umm Gudair, and 34% at Wadi Al Batin. The changes in TPH
contaminationwere significantly correlatedwith the soil type,
vegetation type, geological substrates, geomorphological
features, and annual precipitation. The vegetation recovery
of dominant desert communities in the study area was
influenced by soil type, geomorphological feature, and TPH
contaminated areas. Interestingly, the results showed that
these desert communities can recover in areas contaminated
by TPH at a higher rate than non-contaminated sites in the
study area. Such a study can provide important inputs to the
restoration and revegetation programs in arid landscapes.
e
:
mmabdullah@tamu.eduJ Ind Environ Chem, Volume:3
DOI: 10.35841/2591-7331-C3-015