Millions of Gallons of BP Oil Found on Ocean's Floor

Dr. Brian Stacy, NOAA veterinarian, prepares to clean an oiled Kemp's Ridley sea turtle found almost 40 miles from the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, June 14, 2010.
NOAA's National Ocean Service

CLICK HERE - RESEARCH - Using Natural Abundance Radiocarbon To Trace the Flux of Petrocarbon to the Seafloor Following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

digitaljournal.com - by Karen Graham - January 31, 2015

While Gulf Coast residents are feeling pretty good about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, thinking it's now less harmful than originally thought, scientists have found almost 10 million gallons of BP's oil, sitting on the bottom of the Gulf.

Almost 10 million gallons of crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 has been found buried under ocean sediment in the Gulf of Mexico, about 62 miles Southeast of the Mississippi Delta. Jeff Chanton, a professor at the University of Florida, and a member of the team of researchers who discovered the crude oil, says the find has grave implications for marine life and the health of the Gulf. The scientists used carbon 14, a natural radioisotope to map the sediment. Because oil does not contain carbon 14, it stood out like a sore thumb.

The massive amount of oil covers an area of 9,300 miles off the Southeast Coast of the Mississippi Delta. The research team published their findings in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

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