The BP Oil Spill Compared to Previous Spills

Written by Jack Hassard

On May 26, 2010

As I write this post, BP has begun their “top kill” maneuver to stop the flow of oil by plugging the well with mud. This technique has not been used at such great depths, and we’ll have to wait perhaps for a couple of days to find out the result of this approach to stopping this debacle.

As I’ve read the wrenching stories, and seen the awful scenes of oil in the water, and oil reaching the beaches and marshes, I’ve also wondered about previous oil spills, and what precedence there is for this calamity. Here is a chart of very large oil spills since 1967. Note that the largest spill was not accidental, but was done by Iraq during the first Gulf War. But the second largest spill was accidental and it happened in the Gulf of Mexico.

In 1979, the Ixtoc I oil well beneath the waters of the Gulf of Mexico (near the Bay of Campeche) blew out, and created the world’s worst accidental oil disaster in history. More than 3 million barrels of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico, and it took nearly 9 months for the well to be capped. In the meantime, 162 miles of Texas beaches were affected, and thousands of birds were killed. According to SkyTruth President John Amos, the Ixtoc I is a perfect example of the present BP Gulf oil spill, and we should use it a model to help us understand the present oil spill.

According to SkyTruth, which uses remote sensing and digital mapping help us understand environmental consequences of human activities, the estimate of the spill is much larger than released by BP. According to BP, there are 5,000 barrels of oil being leaked into the Gulf daily; SkyTruth believes it is closer to 26,000 barrels of oil per day, more than five times as large!

The SkyTruth map below gives some perspective to the extent of the oil slick that has extended to an area about the size of South Carolina throughout the Gulf Coast area. It is causing damage to beaches, wildlife, and marches up and down the Gulf.

You May Also Like…

The Day the Dinosaurs Died

The Day the Dinosaurs Died

Dinosaurs lived and roamed the earth for hundreds of millions of years. But they disappeared from geological rock record about 66 million years ago. What happened to them? Don Peck, science educator and geologist, and long time colleague and friend has some answers to...

Acrylic Painting of the Geologic Map of Georgia

Acrylic Painting of the Geologic Map of Georgia

The art of the geology of Georgia is a painting I completed this week. It's an acrylic painting of the geologic map of Georgia. I painted it on a wood board, 10 1/4 inches x 8 1/2 inches that was cut in the shape of the state. I purchased it at a local gift shop. I...

Jack Hills Zircon: Evidence of a Very Old Earth

Latest Story In a report published in Nature Geoscience, a scientific team studying rocks in Australia, used Australian zircons in the Jack Hills that are embedded in the rocks to decide the age and history of these rocks. They found evidence that the Earth's crust...

0 Comments

We would enjoy reading your comments

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Discover more from Citizen Jack

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading