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The monitoring was carried out in a 510 km stretch, between Punta Arenas and Puerto Williams, through a measurement system called FerryBox.
A recent investigation revealed a natural leak plume of crude oil along the Strait of Magellan, thanks to the installation of a series of sensors on the Yaghan ferry that measured physical, chemical and biological parameters.
The monitoring was carried out through the FerryBox system, a continuous measurement device unique in Chile that was installed in the engine room of the Tabsa company vessel. The team, which was financed through the Scientific and Technological Equipment Fund (FONDEQUIP), measured various parameters from the Strait of Magellan and channels of southern Patagonia, traveling approximately 510 km, from Punta Arenas to Puerto Williams.
The study was led by Dr. Ricardo Giesecke, researcher at the Center for Dynamic Research of High Latitude Marine Ecosystems (IDEAL) and academic at the Institute of Marine and Limnological Sciences (ICML) of the Universidad Austral de Chile (UACh). It also had the participation of scientists from the Universidad Mayor (UMayor), the University of Concepción (UdeC), the Fisheries Development Institute (IFOP) and students from the Marine Biology degree at the UACh.
“We discovered the presence of a hydrocarbon source of natural origin, which is being transported by the San Juan River, on the Brunswick Peninsula, towards the Strait of Magellan,” confirms the scientist.
According to the researcher, natural leaks of crude oil in the Magallanes region and Chilean Antarctica have been documented since the beginning of the 20th century. “We searched the historical records and found that about 120 years ago, prospecting began in the region by the State and they found hydrocarbons in various areas along the Strait of Magellan,” he says, adding that “this discovery will allow us to use this system as a natural laboratory to study the effects of hydrocarbons on biological communities in cold, little-studied regions with low anthropogenic impact.”
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Regarding the possible impacts generated by these natural leaks, the doctor in oceanography states that “communities such as macroalgae are strongly affected by the presence of hydrocarbons and invertebrate organisms such as mollusks accumulate these substances in their tissues, which are then transferable to other organisms. superior and even to the human in case of consuming these products”
Giesecke explains that they have data for more than a year and that monitoring continues. Likewise, he envisions new scenarios for science based on this discovery. “This opens a world of future research to study the chronic impact that fuels have on organisms. Quite interesting ecological studies can be generated, such as, for example, investigating the impact of oil on microorganisms in colder areas, how physiology is affected and how microorganisms have adapted to living under these conditions,” he comments.
The academic also states that “it can be studied whether there are species that are going to be displaced due to the fact that others adapt better to these higher concentrations of oil. This is part of the dynamics of the ecosystem per se.”
The IDEAL Center researcher concludes that “it is a very good laboratory to study because they are precisely chronic and not local impacts, as occurs in ports of disembarkation due to oil spills. What you have here is a community that has been impacted by oil for hundreds of years and it would be interesting to study how communities adapt.”
The study can be read here.