Where Is the Oil? On the Gulf's Bottom, Scientists Say

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Where Is the Oil? On the Gulf's Bottom, Scientists Say

AOL News (Sept. 13) -- The oil many thought had evaporated or dispersed

into the Gulf of Mexico is instead resting on the seafloor, scientists say.

Researchers say they've found a thick layer of oil, likely from the BP

spill, covering wide swaths of the bottom of the gulf.

" We're finding it everywhere that we've looked. The oil is not gone, "

professor Joye of the Department of Marine Sciences at the University

of Georgia, told ABC News. " It's in places where nobody has looked for it. "

A layer of oil is shown on a sediment core. Oil can be found " all over the

place " on the Gulf of Mexico seafloor, some as much as 2 inches thick,

University of Georgia professor Joye says.Joye, who is studying the

impact of the spill from the research vessel Oceanus, said the oil is as much

as 2 inches thick in some areas. It can be found as far as 16 miles from

the site of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, she added.

" I've collected literally hundreds of sediment cores from the Gulf of

Mexico, including around this area. And I've never seen anything like this, "

Joye told NPR today.

The oil could have serious implications for creatures who rely on oxygen

and sediments from the seafloor to survive, said Alice Alldredge of the

Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology at the University of

California, Santa Barbara.

She told AOL News that there is already a lack of oxygen in the gulf due to

the oil-eating bacteria. " This could have a smothering effect, " Alldredge

said. " Oil is toxic. Many organisms are not capable of surviving in toxic

environments. "

Millions of barrels of crude have been emptied into the gulf since the

April 20 explosion that killed 11 workers and set off the worst environmental

disaster in U.S. history. Much of the crude was consumed by a naturally

occurring, oil-eating bacteria.

But the oil sheen disappeared from the water's surface just months after

the well was capped, leading many scientists to wonder if oil had become

suspended in giant plumes in the water column or had been dispersed by

chemicals. Others declared the substance all but vanquished. In August, Carol

Browner, a White House energy adviser, said that " the vast majority of the oil

is gone. "

The mystery may be over, however. Scientists now say that much of the oil

from the BP spill is very likely on the gulf floor. In August, researchers

from the University of South Florida found evidence that the crude may have

come to rest on the bottom of the gulf as well, according to a report in

NPR.

" We have to [chemically] fingerprint it and link it to the Deepwater

Horizon, " Joye told NPR. " But the sheer coverage here is leading us all to come

to the conclusion that it has to be sedimented oil from the oil spill,

because it's all over the place. "