Posted on 01/10/2011 9:09:44 PM PST by brityank
Federal study confirms microbes have eaten most of the Gulf Oil Spill
A study by researchers from Texas A&M and University of California in Santa Barbara have found that all of the methane gas released from the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico have been consumed by tiny microbes. Methane gas amounts 100,000 times higher than normal at the time of their release have completely disappeared after only 120 days. Some scientists had raised concerns that dissolved methane and other oil residue would continue to plague the Gulf for years or even decades. This is turning out not to be the case.
Confirming that the methane gas has been consumed was a corresponding drop in dissolved oxygen content in the water consistent with the oxygen required to convert the methane into water and carbon dioxide by the microbes. High levels of methane eating bacteria were also found in the water where the methane gas had previously been measured.
Microbes are also cleaning up the spilled oil. In a report last month, federal officials said there was no longer any significant oil from the spill left offshore. What should be clear is that natural processes can clean up oil spills over time.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
Gee, just like I said in the summer of ‘09. Petroleum is fish food. Microbes eat the oil, plankton eat the microbes, fish eat the plankton.
Gulf Oil Spill a "Dead Zone in the Making"?After the 1979 Ixtoc oil spill (which was far larger than the Deepwater Horizon spill) in the Gulf of Mexico, the area's infauna were reduced by up to 90 percent, Tunnell said—a potential reason many bird species left the area in the wake of the nine-month-long spill.
However, there may be a bright side: Organisms at the bottom of the food chain reproduce more rapidly than bigger animals, Tunnell pointed out by email. After the Ixtoc spill, infauna returned to pre-spill levels within about a year.
This is the most misleading headline!
The study didn’t say that at all. This doesn’t address the concerns of folks like Samantha Joye. The whole idea that there’s oil on the sea floor is NOT what this study was about.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704447604576007761183035214.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/09/14/national/main6864328.shtml
It will be gone eventually, but to claim that the methanogen pathway research is addressing the deep residuals is disingenuous.
And he also slaughtered most of the Marsh Arabs. Have you seen the photos of the fantastic reed houses, main halls and other structures? Amazing work. I haven't heard if the once viable fishing industry has recovered, well, at least the fish, I don't think the "industry" exists anymore.
And he also slaughtered most of the Marsh Arabs. Have you seen the photos of the fantastic reed houses, main halls and other structures? Amazing work.
Some nice pictures at this link:
http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/news-mourning-marsh-arab-way-life
If your body temperature were the same as Prince William Sound, yes.
Awwww, why can't we have a study that we the people can trust?
There are many sources for the info.
Tarballs were common on the beaches long before there was any oil drilling.
Millions of barrels of oil were leaking into the Gulf before anyone drilled, and millions of barrels will be leaking into the Gulf when we stop drilling, or when we disappear from the planet.
Oil leaks into the oceans in lots of places from natural seeps.
I haven’t seen those, thank you. I had seen some earlier black and whites taken (I think) in the 30s thru the 50s. My son’s Company Commander had studied in-depth about Iraq and the Marsh Arabs in particular and had opened up this fascinating culture to me during a discussion after one of their combat deployments.
He tried to make sure that his men knew of these things so that their knowledge of Iraq would not be one-dimensional. This paid off greatly durng the second combat deployment when they made a conscentrated effort to reach the people in a more personal way which developed good intelligence and resulted in the arrest/capture/death of major HVTs (high value targets).
They became adept in understanding the individual tribal aspects of the people and understood what motivated them more effectively. That’s the quality of some combat leaders and men we have in our military these days. Great stuff if they weren’t ignored, forgotten and unsupported by this regime.
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