Oil Spill

Question 1

How does spilt oil disperse in many ways.

Answer 1

• lower molecular weight constituents evaporation.
• water soluble componénts dissolve in water column
• wave action forms emulsion
• some particles settle on seabed, incorporated into sediments.
• naturally occurring microorganisms can feed/ biodegrade some parts of oil.
• some parts oxidize when interact w/ air

Question 2

How was cleanup operations done on the Gulf of Mexico

Answer 2

Clean up operations to protect sensitive salt marshland - shoreline used slick lickers, booms and vacuums.
Beaches manually removed oil by hand, shovels and absorbant pads.

Question 3

How did the oil spill affect biota

Answer 3

Affect of oil spill is two fold.
Kills organisms by smothering
Kills organisms from toxicity

Question 4

How did oil spill affect birds

Answer 4

1746 collected
Could have affected 800,000 coastal
And 200,000 offshore

Question 5

How did oil spill affect sea turtles

Answer 5

> 1000 found dead
Tens of thousands more were exposed

Question 6

How did oil spill affect mammals

Answer 6

Mammals/Dolphins included 51 collected in spill zone.
47 of those were dead.

Question 7

How did oil spill affect humans

Answer 7

Residents and clean up workers showing serious health effects.
Nausea, respiratory problems, seizures, skin irritation and lesions.

Question 8

What are PAHs

Answer 8

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are found in oil and can stay in the environment for long periods of time.
Use of oil dispersants can increase the concentration of PAHs in water column.
Easier for wildlife to intake/accumulate in system.

Question 9

How did oil spill affect food web

Answer 9

Predators intake prey with small concentrations of PAHs resulting in a higher concentration of PAH intake as the food web goes further up to the predators.
Higher intake of oil pollutants in predators
Cause cancers, development problems, mutations to wildlife and people.