Dead Coral Found Near Site of Gulf Oil Spill
Bad news from the Gulf of Mexico; people seem to think the effects of the oil spill weren’t as bad as predicted, but the truth is we’re only beginning to see the extent of the disaster.
Credit: Lophelia II 2010, NOAA OER and BOEMRE
A survey of the seafloor near BP’s blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico has turned up dead and dying coral reefs that were probably damaged by the oil spill, scientists said Friday.
The coral sites lie seven miles southwest of the well, at a depth of about 4,500 feet, in an area where large plumes of dispersed oil were discovered drifting through the deep ocean last spring in the weeks after the spill.
The large areas of darkened coral and other damaged marine organisms were almost certainly dying from exposure to toxic substances, scientists said.