The Environmental Studies Journal (TESJ) Vol 1, No. 2,
pp 48 – 56; March, 2018
Impact of Crude Oil Spillage and Gas Flaring activities on Soil Properties at Izombe in South East, Nigeria
1*Osujieke, D.N., 1Imadojemu, P.E., 1Onwu, C.A., 2Igbojionu, J.N. and 2Iroha, J.N.
1*Department of Soil Science and land Resources Management, Federal
University Wukari, Nigeria
2Department of Soil Science Technology, Federal College of Land Resources
Technology, Owerri, Nigeria
* Corresponding email: bigdonax@yahoo.com *Phone No: +2348030877200
The study was to ascertain the effect of crude oil spillage and gas flare on soil properties at Izombe. Composite samples were collected from three different locations; oil spillage, gas flaring and control sites using random sampling method. Collected samples were subjected to laboratory analyses and data generated were statistically analyzed using coefficient of variation (CV) and correlation. Soil pH(H2O) were strongly – moderately acidic. Organic carbon had 7.43 g/kg, 21.23 g/kg and 2.12 g/kg for soils under control, oil spillage and gas flare sites, respectively. The CV showed that organic carbon (96.13 %), total nitrogen (79.54 %), Fe (100.92 %), and Pb (54.04 %) recorded high variation among the studied sites. pH(H2O) correlated positively (r= 745, r= 0.634, r= 0.982) with Fe, Pb and Zn. The result shows that soil properties under oil spillage site were mostly affected followed by gas flare site when compared with control site.
Keywords: Oil spillage, gas flare, soil properties, composite sample, soil, Izombe