Beach Contamination Classification 



Along with types of beaches, the procedure for cleanup also 

 depends on the extent and type of contamination. For beach cleanup, 

 it is the properties of the oil as it hits the beach that are important. 

 Thus , both the age and the original properties of oil dictate the char- 

 acteristics of the oil to be dealt with. An aged No. 4 oil, for example, 

 may exhibit characteristics close to those of Number 6, a much heavier 

 oil, due to the evaporation of the volatile components. Emulsification 

 greatly alters the properties of the oil. Wave actions can turn an oil 

 into a water-in-oil emulsion that is stable and resistant to degradation 

 [1,2]. 



In general, the lighter oils tend to penetrate more easily into 

 the beach surface and, therefore, result in more contaminated material 

 to be removed. On the other hand, part of the light oil is removed by 

 evaporation. 



From Table 1, it can be seen that, with the exception of extreme 

 cases, the length of beach contaminated is loosely related to the amount 

 of oil spilled. For a spill of less than 100,000 gallons the extent 

 of beach contamination would likely be not much above 10 miles. Also, 

 it appears that only when the amount of oil spilled exceeds 1,000,000 

 gallons when a contamination of more than 100 miles of beaches occurs. 

 Now a shoreline of less than 10 miles normally does not contain sections 

 of beaches significantly different in characteristics. A spill of under 

 100,000 gallons may be therefore considered localized and thus involves 

 only one type of cleanup technique. A spill of less than 10,000 gallons 

 can be considered small since the amount of beach involved will be minimal. 



An approximate classification of the beach contamination can be 

 based on the amount of oil spilled as follows ; 



(1) A spill of less than 10,000 gallons of oil is small and will 

 likely involve less than 10 miles of beaches. 



(2) A spill of between 10,000 to 100,000 gallons is moderate and 

 will likely involve beaches less than 100 miles in length. 



(3) A spill of more than 100,000 gallons is large and may involve 

 more than 100 miles of beaches. 



The above classification is not precise due to several factors. 

 The data available are approximate only. Sometimes they are based on 

 admissions by the individuals responsible for the spills; other times 

 they are based on estimates made by the government agencies. In addi- 

 tion, better correlations can be made if the types of oil and the dynamics 

 of the sea along the shore can be taken into account. Suggestion on 

 how to improve such a classification will be discussed in a later 

 section. 



