The oil spill from the well damaged in BP in the Gulf of Mexico released a hydrocarbon column of over 35 kilometers long and 200 meters high, situated at 1,100 meters deep, according to a study published today in Science.
The study, conducted by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), said that the explosion and sinking of the rig Deepwater Horizon in April created a column of waste as natural degradation is very slow.
The WHOI team calculated the size of the column from 57,000 chemical analysis, made in June during an expedition aboard a submarine capable of exploring the ocean up to 4,500 meters deep.
"Not only have we demonstrated conclusively that there is a column, but we have defined its origin and approximate structure," said Richard Camilli Science, one of the scientists from WHOI, which indicated that the columns of waste were far , mere theories in the literature "scientific.
Camilli, who is also the lead author of the study, added that the levels of hydrocarbons detected in the column are "significant."
The team traveled in a zigzag column 19 times to determine its size, shape and composition, the study said.
During the tour, sampled through a tool that measures ocean conductivity, temperature and water depth.
Once in the laboratory, they found that the samples, but colorless and odorless, contained concentrations of hydrocarbons, including benzene, toluene, and xylene-etibenzeno more than 50 micrograms per liter.
This conclusion contrasts with that obtained by the U.S. government, which last August 4 presented a scientific report according to which 74 percent of the 4.9 million barrels of oil that spilled into the ocean has been collected since April , burned, vaporized or decomposed by natural processes.
"It has spread a rumor that the particles were being degraded oil naturally and easily. We have not seen that. We have seen that are still there," Camilli said.
However, scientists found "dead zones", ie areas of the spine devoid of oxygen which could not survive fish or other marine animals.
However, for the WHOI geochemist Benjamin Van Mooy, the study gives cause for alarm.
"If oxygen samples tell us that microbes are not close to degrading the oil well, oil could persist for a while. So it is possible that oil is transported considerable distances before being dissolved," he said.
EFE | CANALCLIMA.com
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