In deep water Regardless of what may happen near shore, the deeper waters of the Gulf—where the oil is directly spilling—may form their own dead zones, thanks to the busy work of microorganisms breaking down the oil and consuming oxygen in the process.
Dead zones are generally caused by significant nutrient pollution, and are primarily a problem for bays, lakes and coastal waters since they receive excess nutrients from upstream sources. Excess nitrogen and phosphorus cause an overgrowth of algae in a short period of time, also called algae blooms.
Nitrogen and phosphorous from agricultural runoff are the primary culprits, but sewage, vehicular and industrial emissions and even natural factors also play a role in the development of dead zones.
Habitat losses may alter migration patterns and disrupt life cycles of animals and result in erosion of shorelines. Impacts to local economies and recreation: Oil spills can result in closures of beaches, parks, waterways, and recreational and commercial fisheries. There may also be restrictions on hunting and boating.
Oil spills are some of the most familiar man-made disasters, devastating to people, the environment, animals and global socioeconomics.
A form of pollution, oil spills may be caused by releases of crude oil from tankers, offshore platforms, drilling rigs or wells.
Such man-made disasters are crime, arson, civil disorder, terrorism, war, biological/chemical threat, cyber-attacks, etc.
On April 20, 2010, the oil drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, operating in the Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, exploded and sank resulting in the death of 11 workers on the Deepwater Horizon and the largest spill of oil in the history of marine oil drilling operations.
In 1859, the first U.S. oil well was drilled near Titusville, Pennsylvania. And it's possible the first oil spils occurred while the crude oil was transported from this well.
An oil spill can harm birds and mammals in several ways: direct physical contact, toxic contamination, destruction of food sources and habitats, and reproductive problems.
The Gulf's dead zone is considered the world's largest, but it isn't the only area with a dead zone. There's one in the Chesapeake Bay and another in the Baltic Sea.
The majority of the world's dead zones are along the eastern coast of the US, and the coastlines of the Baltic States, Japan and the Korean Peninsula. Notable examples include the Gulf of Mexico and the Baltic Sea. The Gulf of Mexico has a seasonal hypoxic zone that forms every year in late summer.
Nutrient run-off triggers dead zones
The largest dead zone in the world lies in the Arabian Sea, covering almost the entire 63,700-square mile Gulf of Oman. The second largest sits in the Gulf of Mexico in the United States, averaging almost 6,000 square miles in size.
Excess nutrients that run off land or are piped as wastewater into rivers and coasts can stimulate an overgrowth of algae, which then sinks and decomposes in the water. The decomposition process consumes oxygen and depletes the supply available to healthy marine life.
Dead zones are caused by excessive nitrogen and phosphorous pollution from human activities, including: Agricultural runoff from farmland that carries nutrients from fertilizers and animal manure into rivers and streams, eventually flowing into the Chesapeake Bay.
There are four main types of dead zones: permanent, temporary, seasonal, and diel-cycling.
Mexico's Ixtoc 1 accident released up to 140 million gallons of crude oil into the Bay of Campeche between June 1979 and March 1980. Due to the uncertainty surrounding how much oil was released during the Deepwater Horizon disaster, some sources rank the Ixtoc 1 accident as the second worst oil spill of all time.
With an oil leak occurring somewhere in the country almost every half hour, Russia records many more spills than other oil-rich states. One hotspot is the Komi Republic in the far north.
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Still Detectable 10 Years Later, Scientists Say. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill was not a short-lived catastrophe. Over 10 years after one of the largest environmental disasters in human history, a sticky oil residue still coats some marshland in the Gulf of Mexico, a new report reveals.
In the deep sea, clumps of oil break down into droplets and enter the deep sea ecosystem—getting gobbled up by animals, sticking in marine snow clumps, or falling to the seafloor to be eaten by microbes.
On July 15, 2010, BP announced that it had successfully plugged the oil leak using a tightly fitted cap. The cap, weighing 75 tons and standing 30 feet (9.1 m) high, is now bolted to the failed blowout preventer. It consists of a Flange Transition Spool and a 3 Ram Stack and is a temporary solution.
The following are the examples: Chemical spills, hazardous material spills, explosives, chemical or biological attacks, nuclear blasts, rail accidents, airline crashes, or groundwater poisoning are all instances of man-made disasters.
A disaster is defined as a disruption on a massive scale, either natural or man-made, occurring in short or long periods. Disasters can lead to human, material, economic or environmental hardships, which can be beyond the bearable capacity of the affected society.
The Vizag gas leak is the most recent of human disasters with the potential to change our lives forever. Smoke is seen coming out of the LG Polymers Plant Building, following a gas leak, in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India, May 7, 2020, in this still image taken from video.TV ATTENTION EDITORS - NO RESALES.