Deepwater Horizon Spill Left ‘Bathtub Ring’ of Oil Residue on Deep Ocean Floor
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Photo by Benjamin Lowy/Edit by Getty Images(NEW YORK) — The oil spill at B.P.’s Deepwater horizon in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 left a “bathtub ring” of oil-rich water about the size of Rhode Island.
A study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, found that some of the oil that spilled in the incident was deposited on the deep ocean floor. Additional “fallout plume” allowed suspended oil particles to sink to underlying sediment.
Researchers also said that oil may have been deposited outside the 3,200-square-kilometer region near the well, which may have gone undetected due to “heterogeneous spatial distribution.”
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