Mexican Gulf Oil Spill Threats Ecological System

Posted by mysta on April 27, 2010 · Leave a Comment

After The Deep Water Horizon tanker sank last Thursday due to its explosion two days earlier, there is a threat that up to 42,000 gallons of oil will leek into the water. Because the tanker had sunk to the depth of 5,000 feet below the surface, the Coast Guard said that it has been impossible for them to find the mechanism that could shut down the well.

The spill’s size is covering an area of 48 miles by 39 miles in the Gulf of Mexico, and besides the threat on the beaches of Florida up to Louisiana, there is the ecological devastating effect that threatens the whales, oysters, nesting birds and other marine life in the area. Efforts are made to save the ecological system, and special efforts are made towards trying to prevent from the spill to reach the shores, where sea grass and mangroves act as a filtering system for tidal waters, as any oil would be toxic for the plants and the species inhabiting them.

The spill is being watched by different state and federal officials, while the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science in St. Petersburg is giving Satellite imagery to the coast guard.