Posted on 10/20/2009 7:05:19 AM PDT by Halfmanhalfamazing
Twice an Exxon Valdez spill worth of oil seeps into the Gulf of Mexico every year, according to a new study that will be presented January 27 at the Ocean Sciences Meeting in San Antonio, Texas.
But the oil isn't destroying habitats or wiping out ocean life. The ooze is a natural phenomena that's been going on for many thousands of years, according to Roger Mitchell, Vice President of Program Development at the Earth Satellite Corporation (EarthSat) in Rockville Md. "The wildlife have adapted and evolved and have no problem dealing with the oil," he said.
Oil that finds its way to the surface from natural seeps gets broken down by bacteria and ends up as carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. So knowing the amount of fossil fuel that turns to carbon dioxide naturally is important for understanding how much humans may be changing the climate by burning oil and gas.
Using a technique they developed in the early 1990s to help explore for oil in the deep ocean, Earth Satellite Corporation scientists found that there are over 600 different areas where oil oozes from rocks underlying the Gulf of Mexico. The oil bubbles up from a cracks in ocean bottom sediments and spreads out with the wind to an to an area covering about 4 square miles.
"On water, oil has this wonderful property of spreading out really thin," said Mitchell. "A gallon of oil can spread over a square mile very quickly." So what ends up on the surface is an incredibly thin slick, impossible to see with the human eye and harmless to marine animals.
When oil spreads out over water, surface tension causes it to act like a super-thin sheet of Saran Wrap, flattening down small waves on the ocean surface.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
We are decades behind Russia in rejecting the fossil fuel idea and accepting abiotic oil as fact. I think fostering this idea is coming back to bite the oil industry in the butt now.
Save the Whales; Drill Baby, Drill!
Oil seeping to the surface in the Gulf has been going forever, and now it’s NEWS! The ignorance in this country is astounding!
So .... this naturally oozing oil is harmful to the environment? Then we’d better drill it so we can stop global warming!
Allah, et al, will be spared because Allah is most merciful and peaceful.
They are just now figuring this out? I have known it since I got that black gooey stuff on my feet and the seat of my new bathing suit on Galveston beach.
Do you think GOD had a plan???
Yeah, it is found in caves beneath the earth from dead dinosaurs (sarc). Hard to believe all of those dinosaurs made it out into the ocean after they died. When an animal dies on land, its carcass is consumed by scavengers. The same today as it was in times before. The few dinosaurs that are preserved were killed in flash floods along rivers.
LOL
Of course, just let the oil waste away rather than put it to good human use. I despise the Ecotard-Government Complex that has denied to us the opportunity of harnessing our own viable energy sources. We can’t drill, can’t refine, can’t do nuclear, but can chase the wind dream as long as it doesn’t compromise Ted Kennedy’s view on the Cape ... oh wait....
Oil on troubled waters; Ben Franklin demonstrated that over 200 years ago.
It is a little more complicated than that as “bugs” are pretty much found in all rocks, especially marine-laid deposits. Most sedimentary rock is composed of shale, which is composed primarily of mud-sized particles. To become a source bed for petroleum, the rock needed to have been deposited in a hostile, reducing environment. Why? Because in normal, oxygenated water, the remains of dead life that fall to the bottom are consumed by a whole host of organisms, such as a worms. Without oxygen, very little life can exist and the organic matter is not consumed. It can be buried with the mud particles that trickle down to the bottom to form shale after compaction. Bury it down about two miles and hydrocarbon generation occurs.
Sent this info to Isakson and Chambliss and asked them if they knew about and suggesting DRILLING FOR OIL sooner than later.
What is the it you are referring to?
The organic matter that makes a natural gas source rock is primarily made up of leaves, twigs, etc. What happens during a big flood on the Mississippi River? All of the plant debris is sent out into the gulf and eventually gets buried with the mud. If it is not consumed by the critters on the ocean bottom, it can become a source rock. Source rocks are actually pretty rare in the geologic record as most of the time, there is enough oxygen on the ocean bottom to sustain life to consume the organic mush before it can be buried. Sedimentation rates are on the order of 1 inch per thousand years out in the basin.
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