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Submarine Dive Finds Oil, Dead Sea Life at Bottom of Gulf of Mexico
http://abcnews.go.com/US/exclusive-submarine-dive-finds-oil-dead-sea-life/story?id=12305709 ^

Posted on 12/06/2010 3:55:43 PM PST by chessplayer

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To: chessplayer
According to the article, Alvin is sitting on top of what is considered an 80-square mile kill zone

According to http://www.gulfmex.org/facts.htm, The total area of the Gulf is about 600,000 square miles.

Do the math.

21 posted on 12/06/2010 4:10:08 PM PST by Zeppo ("Happy Pony is on - and I'm NOT missing Happy Pony")
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To: chessplayer
This is good news.

Hello, the oil is 5000 ft down on the bottom.

Earth to environmental wackos: nobody fishes down there or scuba dives, or water skis.

Commercial and residential activities happen way above the bottom.

22 posted on 12/06/2010 4:10:10 PM PST by Popman (Obama. First Marxist to turn a five year Marxist plan into a 4 year administration.)
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To: skimbell
I thought that oil floats? During the leak that was the problem wasn't it. Oil floating all over the place.

It depends on who and what party is in office at the time.

23 posted on 12/06/2010 4:10:45 PM PST by Las Vegas Ron (Obama treats terrorists with kid gloves, American Citizens with rubber gloves)
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To: pfflier
What’s the norm for life 5,000 feet below the surface? So far the article says it’s a dead zone but what should be there?

A bunch of very cold water with very little oxygen...and little else.

Unless she's a Women's Studies teacher, Prof. Joye should know this.

24 posted on 12/06/2010 4:12:22 PM PST by okie01 (THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA: Ignorance on Parade)
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To: chessplayer

Oil sinks?

How much sea life is “normal” at 5000 feet, particularly in that part of the Gulf?
Further, how much research was done PRIOR to the spill that can be used as a baseline to compare the current status?

OR is this just another pile of scare tactics aimed at shutting down the US oil industry? We are suppose to act with responsibility for our world, but on the other hand, far too often, “some” would prefer to react without having the facts or evidence necessary to make good decisions.


25 posted on 12/06/2010 4:12:31 PM PST by TheBattman (They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature...)
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To: pfflier
What’s the norm for life 5,000 feet below the surface?

Pretty bleak, I imagine.

However, ABC kept flashing videos of a beautiful coral reef with gorgeous tropical fish in very bright ambient light as a comparison.

26 posted on 12/06/2010 4:12:51 PM PST by sonofagun (Some think my cynicism grows with age. I like to think of it as wisdom!)
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To: Popman
The deep ocean bottom is a recycling bin. That's where all the dead stuff goes to be recycled in sedimentary layers.

Diatoms and dezmids have been piling up their skeletons down there for billions of years. Under pressure they form limestone deposit layers as they build.

27 posted on 12/06/2010 4:14:44 PM PST by blackdog
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To: chessplayer

Crap! This is just a liberal Obama supporter giving him cover for the NEW drilling moratorium he imposed last week. I bet most scientists and oceanographer would say the BP spill had little impact on the Gulf.


28 posted on 12/06/2010 4:15:08 PM PST by kgrif_Salinas
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To: pfflier

Slime.
Instead they found oily slime.
bfd


29 posted on 12/06/2010 4:18:33 PM PST by omega4179 (Quem deus vult perdere, dementat prius)
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To: X-FID

University of Georgia professor Samantha Joye

University Professor = Idiot that couldn’t get a real job.


30 posted on 12/06/2010 4:21:50 PM PST by stubernx98 (cranky, but reasonable)
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To: chessplayer
But, but, but,,,the Obama junta and a lot of conservatives assure us that things are better than ever!

Things are really bleak at 5000 feet, where not a bit of light ever shines. There appears to be little life, where there is otherwise...little life. Yep. It's a tragedy of massive proportions. I'm for sure canceling my deep sea vacation this year, and there's no way I'm going to eat any cuttlefish for a while.

31 posted on 12/06/2010 4:22:07 PM PST by Minn
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To: chessplayer

There is not much life at 5000 feet.
Natural bacteria break the oil down.
And your point is?


32 posted on 12/06/2010 4:22:33 PM PST by Darksheare (I shook hands with Sheryl Crow and all I got was Typhus and a single sheet of toilet paper.)
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To: sonofagun
BTW, diatoms have very dense skeletons. In order to regulate boyancy while alive, they produce oil and increase or decrease the amount inside their cell walls to balance their depth in the water. When they die, the oil is dispersed into the marine environment.

Varients of these little fellas are what they are growing to commercially harvest their oil.

In a hundred years any oil down there will have been eaten by bugs or broken down into simpler carbon chains, and will sit capped quite neatly under a few feet of dead diatoms.

33 posted on 12/06/2010 4:24:30 PM PST by blackdog
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To: chessplayer

The bottom of any ocean is largely dead. The Gulf of Mexico is notable in that it’s bottom leaks oil like a seive.


34 posted on 12/06/2010 4:30:58 PM PST by fso301
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To: chessplayer

No problem until it’s a problem

http://www.wkrg.com/gulf_oil_spill/article/giant-tar-mat-threatens-parts-of-orange-beach/1203040/Dec-03-2010_12-37-pm/

This was last Friday.


35 posted on 12/06/2010 4:32:01 PM PST by Deepest South
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To: chessplayer

No problem until it’s a problem

http://www.wkrg.com/gulf_oil_spill/article/giant-tar-mat-threatens-parts-of-orange-beach/1203040/Dec-03-2010_12-37-pm/

This was last Friday.


36 posted on 12/06/2010 4:32:06 PM PST by Deepest South
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To: chessplayer

But, but, but,,,the Obama junta and a lot of conservatives assure us that things are better than ever!


Well aren’t they or are you saying they are getting worse?


37 posted on 12/06/2010 4:34:52 PM PST by deport
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To: chessplayer

Oil naturally percolates up through the ocean floor in the Gulf of Mexico, just as it does off the coast of California.

The heavy ends from the recent oil spill will settle on the ocean floor to be slowly broken down by natural processes.

In a very few years it will be covered over with silt and you won’t know it ever happened.


38 posted on 12/06/2010 4:36:52 PM PST by marron
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To: chessplayer

Well.. any responses?
Or are you trolling?
Some of your previous coments lead me to believe you might be.


39 posted on 12/06/2010 4:45:05 PM PST by Darksheare (I shook hands with Sheryl Crow and all I got was Typhus and a single sheet of toilet paper.)
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To: skimbell

Its already a dead zone due to plume of fertilizer runoff from the Mississippi R.


40 posted on 12/06/2010 4:45:57 PM PST by rahbert
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