Types and extent of soil contamination in Greater Al-Burqan oil ®eld, Kuwait SAMIRA OMAR* GERARD GREALISH** AND WALEED ROY* * Kuwait Institute for Scienti®c Research, P.O. Box 24885, Safat 13109, Kuwait. Email: somar@kisr.edu.kw, wroy@kisr.edu.kw ** AACM International, Adelaide, Australia. Telephone 965 5332723, Fax: 965 5351653. Email: ggrealish.ene@cickuwait.com ABSTRACT During the Iraqi aggression in 1990 and 1991, Kuwait's oil wells were damaged and set on ®re, resulting in oil contamination of the soil. Contamination of the environment occurred from oil spreading over the land surface and penetrating the soil to varying depths, aerial fall-out from oil spray and combustion products from oil ®res, and the formation of oil lakes on the land surface. The aim of this survey was to determine the magnitude of damage in the Greater Al- Burqan oil ®eld area (56,245 ha) for the purpose of providing information to aid subsequent land use planning and determination of remediation options. Objectives of the survey were to categorize the types of damage, map the extent of damage, and estimate the volume of contaminated soil. An approach based on soil survey concepts was adopted. The key variables measured were contamination depth, total petroleum hydrocarbon concentrations, oil contamination concentration using laser-induced ¯uorescence, soil colour, soil texture, soil consistance and site location. The reconnaissance ®eld survey identi®ed four observable types of oil contaminated soil layers (liquid oil, oily soil, tar mat and soot), plus a `clean' soil type where no oil contamination was observed. The mean volume of contamination was estimated at about 24.4 million cubic meters. The bulk of the oil-contaminated soil occurs in the dry oil lake areas (70%) and the oil lake areas (24%), and oily soil is the dominant type of contaminated soil layer. Keywords: GIS; mapping; oil contamination; soil classi®cation; tar mat. INTRODUCTION During the Iraqi aggression in 1990 and 1991, Kuwait's oil wells and oil infrastructure were detonated and damaged, resulting in contamination of the soil surface and in some areas deep penetration of oil into the soil. Contamination Kuwait J. Sci. Eng. 33(2) pp. 89-99, 2006