Study finds massive flux of gas, in addition to liquid oil, at BP well blowout in Gulf

Study finds massive flux of gas, in addition to liquid oil, at BP well blowout in Gulf

Published: Sunday, February 13, 2011 - 13:32 in Earth & Climate

A new University of Georgia study that is the first to examine comprehensively the magnitude of hydrocarbon gases released during the Deepwater Horizon Gulf of Mexico oil discharge has found that up to 500,000 tons of gaseous hydrocarbons were emitted into the deep ocean. The authors conclude that such a large gas discharge—which generated concentrations 75,000 times the norm—could result in small-scale zones of "extensive and persistent depletion of oxygen" as microbial processes degrade the gaseous hydrocarbons. The study, led by UGA Professor of Marine Sciences Samantha Joye, appears in the early online edition of the journal Nature Geoscience.

Joye said the methane and other gases likely will remain deep in the water column and be consumed by microbes in a process known as oxidation, which en masse can lead to low-oxygen waters.

"We're not talking about extensive hypoxic areas offshore in the Gulf of Mexico," Joye explained. "But the microbial oxidation of the methane and other alkanes will remove oxygen from the system for quite a while because the time-scale for the replenishment of oxygen at that depth is many decades."

Full Article here:
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2011/02/13/study.finds.massive.flux.gas.addition.liquid.oil.bp.well.blowout.gulf

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thinking of the increasing of oxygen depleted areas in oceans all around the world, especially in the last half century...
and now this..
do we really need more ideas for massive & sudden aquatic-die offs?
or more reports like "fish look like they tried to escape the water, to breathe air"