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Top Spills of the Century
Deep Water Horizon:
The Explosion:
At approximately 9:45 pm on April 20, 2010, Methane gas released from beneath the platform rose into drilling rig, where it ignited and exploded, resulting in 94 workers stranded and the death of 11.
The Spill:
Following the devastating blast, oil continued to gush out of the earth for another 87 days.. BP estimated that 1000-5000 gallons of oil were leaking each day. However. the Flow Rate Technical Group estimated that the flow rate was 62,000 gallons per day, revealing it was immensely worse. Over 210 million US gallons of oil were released, making it the worlds largest accidental spill. After the spill, surrounding areas contained 40 times more Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons within the water, creating "Dead Zones". The release of this amount of oil permanently affected the surrounding ecosystem, exposing fish and other organisms to carcinogens and other harmful chemicals.
Iraqi forces intentionally released 300-520 million gallons of oil into the Persian Gulf in 1991 as part of the offensive to prevent American troops from landing.
Bioremediation was used within BP spill area. Microbes ate away at the oil helping the cleanup effort.
In the past 25 years, there have been more than two dozen oil spills in the US.
All time top 5 spills:
1.) Iraqi War Spill(1991) 520 million gallons
2.) BP oil spill(2010)
206 million gallons
3.)Ixtoc 1 spill(1979)
140 million gallonns
4.)Atlantic Empress Spill(1979)
90 million gallons
5.)Kolva River Spill:
84 millon gallons
Not so FUN FACTS:
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