Image : WHOI Study Reports Microbes Consumed Oil in Gulf Slick at Unexpected Rates

From the deck of the research vessel Endeavor, Ben Van Mooy (right) and others survey the scene near the burning Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico in June, 2010. Van Mooy was a member of a team of WHOI scientists who went to the Gulf to study aspects of the oil spill, including how fast it was flowing out of the ruptured wellhead and whether it was flowing in a deep plume of hydrocarbons. Van Mooy's experiments focused on whether microbes were eating oil in the surface slick and in the deep plume, and whether their activities were lowering oxygen levels enough to endanger fish and other marine life. (Photo by Dan Torres, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

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Last updated: July 28, 2014

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