It keeps coming back to haunt us.
After the gigantic BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico back in 2010, researchers have found that in spite of cleanup efforts, residue remained some ten years later., researchers found oil residue a decade after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill — also known as the BP oil spill — ravaged the Gulf of Mexico for months in 2010.
"Water-soluble chemicals dissolved relatively quickly into the sea and were biodegraded by marine organisms, but this was not true for all of the spilled oil’s components," apenned by paper author and Louisiana State University professor Edward Overton, reads. "Oily layers coated the shorelines grasses and some particles even sank to the seafloor, with low quantities still present in 2020.
"After oxidative weathering by sunlight, light crude oil can readily form water-in-oil emulsions, and these emulsions continue weathering but at a reduced rate, thus prolonging their residence time and potential for negative effects in the environment," the paper reads. "The oil’s aromatics compounds can be toxic in themselves or after oxidation."