Mother of all gushers could kill Earth's oceans?

Beowulf, that was from a government report. Not that I trust the government any more than I trust BP.
 
kokonut said:
The salty ocean itself naturally breaks down the oil, albeit even though this a single source of oil release in large amounts over time. The ocean bottom of the Gulf of Mexico releases 100,000 to 400,000 barrels of oil a year naturally. In this case, you won't have repercussions worldwide in terms of ecological disaster. It'd be much more limited. Just possibly at the local or regional level. Then you have hurricanes that can serve to break up the oil even faster. Now, oil on the beach, in the estuaries, etc is a different matter. Then you have the ocean's circulation to think about, too.
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And from today's article on what's left of the oil in the ocean.

The sea's warm surface and oil-munching bacteria have dissipated the slick to such an extent that a planeload of journalists had to fly for an hour before their pilot could find a patch of oil. His relief, according to one reporter on board, was comparable to the anxious captain of a tourist boat spotting a distant pod of dolphins.

It turns out that the playful sea mammals, like other creatures, suffered much less damage than was forecast. A grand total of three dead dolphins covered in oil have been recovered by wildlife rescue teams. The spill has so far killed less than one per cent of the number of birds claimed by the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska in 1989.

With the gush plugged for the past two weeks, experts are beginning to question whether the BP spill can really be called an environmental disaster at all.
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BP's evaporating oil slick leaves America without a villain - Telegraph
 
the damage is still unknown. short-term - it looks ok. long-term? probably will show at later date.

let's not forget - the environment damaged by Exxon-Valdez oil spill is still seriously damaged.... since 1989.
 
Jiro said:
the damage is still unknown. short-term - it looks ok. long-term? probably will show at later date.

let's not forget - the environment damaged by Exxon-Valdez oil spill is still seriously damaged.... since 1989.
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Yeah, and add on the recent spill... could take two lifetimes before it's done. Unless, someone else spills oil within the next 20 years! :Ohno:
 
Jiro said:
the damage is still unknown. short-term - it looks ok. long-term? probably will show at later date.

let's not forget - the environment damaged by Exxon-Valdez oil spill is still seriously damaged.... since 1989.
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Yes, damage from the oil spill will not go away for a long time. The coasts gets the most of the damage.
 
It didn't say it was over. It said it was hard to find the slick out on the ocean.

The most prominent places to see the muddy brown oil slick are along the coastline, on the coast and in the estuaries. It'll be a while til it all breaks down naturally through weathering. These will be the most visible impacted areas. I suspect it'll be 3 or 4 years til fishing, shell and crab catching can resume in the impacted area of the ocean. Coastline and estuary are a different matter.

The Exxon Valdez's oil was the processed thick black oil that is still present today under the rocks and up to several inches below the surface along the impacted coast of Alaska. Just lift a rock and you can see some oil under it. Other than life has resumed in the waters off of Alaska.
 
kokonut said:
It didn't say it was over. It said it was hard to find the slick out on the ocean.

The most prominent places to see the muddy brown oil slick are along the coastline, on the coast and in the estuaries. It'll be a while til it all breaks down naturally through weathering. These will be the most visible impacted areas. I suspect it'll be 3 or 4 years til fishing, shell and crab catching can resume in the impacted area of the ocean. Coastline and estuary are a different matter.

The Exxon Valdez's oil was the processed thick black oil that is still present today under the rocks and up to several inches below the surface along the impacted coast of Alaska. Just lift a rock and you can see some oil under it. Other than life has resumed in the waters off of Alaska.
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Of COURSE it is hard. The oil was pushed underwater. They make it sound like it was no disaster after all, yay. Gimme a break.
 
Oil is biodegradable. It breaks down naturally both in the water and on the surface. Several factors either speed up or slow down the breakdown process. It will take awhile. We can only learn from this.
 
How can oil be biodegradable? Oil kills wildlife.
 
Everything breaks down even oil. With oxygen it helps with the biodegradation process. Sure, oil can kill wildlife if there is enough of it. There are species on the bottom of the ocean seafloor that thrive on oil seeps and it actually help marine life.
 
kokonut said:
Everything breaks down even oil. With oxygen it helps with the biodegradation process. Sure, oil can kill wildlife if there is enough of it. There are species on the bottom of the ocean seafloor that thrive on oil seeps and it actually help marine life.
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none of which is beneficial for humanity since majority of our food is seafood.
 
kokonut said:
Everything breaks down even oil. With oxygen it helps with the biodegradation process. Sure, oil can kill wildlife if there is enough of it. There are species on the bottom of the ocean seafloor that thrive on oil seeps and it actually help marine life.
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how about plastic?
 
Rebel_Brooke said:
how about plastic?
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Yes. Over time it does. Although in the absence of oxygen it takes a long time to break down. Plastic is a petroleum product. In the presence of direct sunlight and oxygen it breaks down eventually.
 
There's some kind of plastic that is made from plants, not oil. It's interesting how they make it.
 
Yes, still plastic degrade quite slowly and if not exposed to the weatherization processes it can take thousands of years to degrade. But they do break down. Just a matter of how long and how quickly it can break down.
 
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