Researchers analyze 125 compounds from oil spilled in the Gulf of Mexico to determine their longevity at different contamination levels.
The oil discharged into the Gulf of Mexico following the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) rig in 2010 contaminated more than 1,000 square miles of seafloor. The complexity of the event has made it difficult for scientists to determine the long-term fate of oil in this ocean environment.
Researchers analyze 125 compounds from oil spilled in the Gulf of Mexico to determine their longevity at different contamination levels.
The oil discharged into the Gulf of Mexico following the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) rig in 2010 contaminated more than 1,000 square miles of seafloor. The complexity of the event has made it difficult for scientists to determine the long-term fate of oil in this ocean environment.
But researchers from UC Santa Barbara, with colleagues from three other institutions, are making progress.
The scientists have now analyzed long-awaited data from the Natural Resource Damage Assessment to determine the specific rates of biodegradation for 125 major petroleum hydrocarbons — compounds from the oil that settled to the deep ocean floor when DWH’s Macondo well discharged 160 million gallons. Through that analysis, the team found that a number of factors influence how long the impact of such an oil spill lasts. Their results appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Photo via University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB)
