What Damage Does Oil Spills Cause?

Millions of barrels of oil spilled in the Gulf Coast. What were the effects?

Oil's Effect On the Aquatic Environment

• The article Oil's Effect On the Aquatic Environment, comes from the U.S. Department of Commerce/ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

• What Creatures Are Most Affected By Oil Spills?
• Many different animals are easily harmed by the large scale oil spills that have become more common recently. Seabirds are the largest group that is usually killed off once this happens because most oil will coat the wings and suffocate the bird. Sea otters, clams and snails are also viable along with the much larger sized fished like whales, sharks and other fish that are exposed to this.

• What Type of Spilled Oil Causes the Most Harm?
• There are two different types of oil, both are very harmful to the environment.
• Light oil is usually mentioned less because of the fact that it evaporates quickly but it can be very deadly. Light oil is usually fuel oils like diesel and gasoline and they usually don't last for longer than a few days but can have the potency to kill animals and plants that they touch along with being dangerous to any human that breathes it in or let any skin contact be made
• Heavy oil is the other oil that we will usually see, the black sticky kind that was seen in the BP Oil Spill. It has the ability to last for many months to years unless they weather significantly. This type of oil is usually less toxic then light oils but has the ability to smother organisms and create more harm in the long run.

• For my next post I will be doing research on the three big threats to the oceans