Futurism: “After the gigantic BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico back in 2010, researchers have found that in spite of cleanup efforts, residue remained some ten years later.
As detailed in a new study, published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, researchers found oil residue a decade after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill — also known as the BP oil spill — ravaged the Gulf of Mexico for months in 2010.
As the study notes, there were relatively small amounts of oil residue found between 2015 and 2020 from the spill. But the mere fact that there was any oil residue found at all — and the way it was transformed by sunlight and ocean microbes — could have huge implications on our mitigation efforts of future oil spills.
“Water-soluble chemicals dissolved relatively quickly into the sea and were biodegraded by marine organisms, but this was not true for all of the spilled oil’s components,” a blog post penned by paper author and Louisiana State University professor Edward Overton, reads. “Oily layers coated the shorelines grasses and some particles even sank to the seafloor, with low quantities still present in 2020.”
While “most damage from oil spills occurs fairly soon after the spill” due to the way the oil’s components biodegrade, Overton writes, the complex degradation process that occurred in some of the residues may prolong a spill’s effects.”