BP Spill: Massive gas discharge hit Gulf

Up to 500,000 tons of gaseous hydrocarbons released into the deep ocean during the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, according to a new study just released

March 14, 2011

Up to 500,000 tons of gaseous hydrocarbons released into the deep ocean during the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, according to a new study just released.

Such a large gas discharge, which generated concentrations 75,000 times the norm, could result in small-scale zones of “extensive and persistent depletion of oxygen” as microbial processes degrade the gaseous hydrocarbons, according to the University of Georgia-led study co-authored by Florida State University oceanographer Ian MacDonald.

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