Long after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the marshy shores of the Gulf of Mexico were still feeling the effects of the disaster. Marsh grass retained plant-smothering oil, and the soil continued to crumble away at a faster rate than before the spill, causing the shoreline to retreat more rapidly than it would otherwise, a new study shows.
Following an explosion in April 2010, the Deepwater Horizon rig pumped nearly 800 million liters of oil into the sea (SN: 2/12/20). The disaster killed dozens of humans and untold sea life. And the oil and its by-products were catastrophic for the Gulf ecosystem, both underwater and along the shore (SN:
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