Published in ERW, 14 Aug 2012
Scientists in the US have put forward several mechanisms by which “marine snow” could have formed after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Their study, which offers a rare insight into the behaviour of marine snow in an oil environment, could help researchers understand how the oil was redistributed after the accident and how to tackle oil spills in the future.
Marine snow is the common name for the clumps of organic and inorganic matter – including bacteria, phytoplankton, faeces and bio-minerals – that form near the surface of the sea and fall steadily downwards. Most of the time marine-snow particles are millimetre- or centimetre-sized, although the snow has been found to be up to three metres in diameter in the Mediterranean. How such large particles are formed is a mystery but they are known to suffocate organisms on the sea floor. […]
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