| Image : Natural Petroleum Seeps Release Equivalent of 8-80 Exxon Valdez Oil Spills
 This illustration shows the route traveled by oil leaving the
subseafloor reservoir as it travels through the water column to the
surface, and ultimately falls back to the seafloor. The oil remaining
after weathering falls in a plume shape onto the seafloor where it
remains in the sediment.
(Jack Cook, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)[back] |
Last updated: July 28, 2014 |