PHYSICAL-PROPERTIES OF SOILS CONTAMINATED BY OIL LAKES, KUWAIT

In preparation for a marine assault by the coalition forces, the Iraqi Army heavily mined Kuwait's coastal zone and the oil fields. Over a m illion of mines were placed on the Kuwait soil. Burning of 732 oil wel ls in the State of Kuwait due to the Iraqi invasion caused damages whi ch had direct and indirect effect on the environment. A total of 20-22 million barrels of spilled crude oil were collected in natural desert depressions and drainage network which formed more than 300 oil lak,e s. The total area covered with oil reached 49 km(2). More than 375 tre nches revealed the existence of hard, massive caliche (CaCO3) subsoil which prevent leached oil from reaching deeper horizons, and limited t he maximum depth of penetration to 1.75 m. Total volume of soil contam inated reached 22,652,500 m(3) is still causing environmental problems and needs an urgent cleaning and rehabilitation. Kuwait Oil Company h as recovered approximately 21 million barrels from the oil lakes since the liberation of Kuwait. In our examined representative soil profile s the oil penetration was not deeper than 45 cm. Infiltration rate, so il permeability, grain size distribution, aggregates formation and wat er holding capacity were assessed.