Movement of Crude Oil in an Experimental Spill on the SEEDS Simulated Pipeline Right-of-way, Fort Norman, N.W.T.

Abstract

The Studies of the Environmental Effects of Disturbances in the Subarctic (SEEDS) experimental spill was conducted on a simulated pipeline right-of-way and trench. A total of 3273 L of Norman Wells crude oil was released over a 24 h period at a depth of 100 cm in a simulation of a rupture from a subsurface pipeline. Absorptive qualities of the surface vegetation and organic soil layers in an undisturbed forest produce rates of flow and area of contamination values much lower than the SEEDS experiment. Furthermore, the area of contamination (672.75 sq m) was greater than experiments in which the amount of oil and rates of pumping were larger. This resulted from the presence of surface water, a depressed mineral soil-dominated simulated pipeline trench, a cleared right-of-way and slow pumping rates. The SEEDS experiment was a more valid analogue of crude-oil spills associated with a buried pipeline in a subarctic environment.