Oil seeps from the floor of the Gulf naturally, in small volumes. Th e phenomenon has been long known to people who lived and traveled along its marshy shores and coastlines. Hernan de Soto, a Spanish explorer who sailed through the Gulf in , used the gummy oil his sailors collected from the beaches to patch up his wooden ships.
Tribal communities gathered tar that caught in the tangled cordgrass of the sandy barrier islands and used it for art and to waterproof pots. Offshore drilling began in the late s. By , over operating oil rigs and thousands of platforms dotted the wide, shallow slope.
But they pushed further, out to where the ground drops away sharply. The Deepwater Horizon well, drilled in , pushed the limits of that deep drilling. At its creation, it was the deepest well ever drilled, punching over 35, feet down into the ground below the sea, in water over 4, feet deep.
All rights reserved. Science News. Smoke rises from surface oil being burned by cleanup crews in the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April Why is there drilling in the Gulf of Mexico?
Share Tweet Email. Why it's so hard to treat pain in infants. This wild African cat has adapted to life in a big city. Animals Wild Cities This wild African cat has adapted to life in a big city Caracals have learned to hunt around the urban edges of Cape Town, though the predator faces many threats, such as getting hit by cars.
India bets its energy future on solar—in ways both small and big. Environment Planet Possible India bets its energy future on solar—in ways both small and big Grassroots efforts are bringing solar panels to rural villages without electricity, while massive solar arrays are being built across the country. Go Further. Animals Climate change is shrinking many Amazonian birds. Animals Wild Cities This wild African cat has adapted to life in a big city. BP closed off the well on July 15, and for the first time in 87 days no oil flowed into the Gulf of Mexico.
It would take two more months before BP completed a relief well to divert oil to the surface, which it had begun drilling in early May, and permanently sealed the spewing reservoir. Over the course of months following the blowout, it became painfully clear that BP had made no meaningful plans to deal with a potential spill. Drilling a relief well was the sole source-control option to stop oil flowing from a blowout that BP even mentioned by name in its pre-drilling response plan.
But this process takes months to complete. Therefore, a three-month-long oil spill was a risk considered acceptable and agreed upon in exchange for the ability to extract oil deep offshore. Robots attempt to repair the Macondo Well's blowout preventer during the Deepwater Horizon spill. Credit: BP. BP may have legally paid for what its done, but morally and ethically it has not. On the morning of April 20, , workers aboard the Deepwater Horizon, a BP-operated deep sea drilling rig, were sealing an exploratory oil well 1, meters beneath the gulf.
While they did so, a pocket of flammable gas travelling at nearly the speed of sound shot up the drill pipe, causing it to buckle. An emergency valve, called a blowout preventer, designed to cap the well in the event of such a kick, failed. When the gas reached the rig, it triggered an explosion, killing 11 of the crew and sinking the rig. It would be 87 days before BP, which was operating the Deepwater Horizon, could bring the gusher under control. Several attempts to plug the well failed.
A small air force took to the skies to coat the slick with chemicals meant to break it up and sink it to the sea floor. Other pockets of oil were set ablaze in flames visible from outer space. By the time it was over, more than 2, kilometers of coast would be fouled in oil and marine life would be devastated. Thousands were put out of work in fisheries, tourism and energy. In the end, it would prove to be 12 times bigger than the Exxon Valdez spill in , the previous record holder.
The Deepwater Horizon disaster signaled the risks of drilling for oil in one of the most culturally significant, ecologically diverse places in the world. Take, for instance, the fish — which researchers at the University of South Florida say are still contaminated with hydrocarbons. Take the size of the spill itself, which a recent study has found to be far more extensive than initially thought, reaching as far as the southernmost tip of Florida.
Oil on Gulf waters after the Deepwater Horizon spill. Credit: Jonathan Henderson. Take, too, the continuing impact the spill had on human health. According to a government health study published seven years after the spill, tens of thousands of workers who first responded to the study are still wrestling with respiratory illnesses brought on by Corexit, the chemical used to disperse the spill. And take that many of those who were affected by that chemical — mostly lower-income fisherman — are still ill, or have gone on to die.
The more time that passes, the worse the spill seems to become, begging the question — could something like this happen again? Like the rescue efforts when five pilot whales were stranded on Redington Beach in Scientists said the silver lining of it all is now they know more about oil spills than ever before. But what they know even more is that continuing to protect our precious gulf is a necessity. News Full Circle.
Actions Facebook Tweet Email. Its been more than 10 years since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and now scientists are seeing the long-term impact of the damage.
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