Mexican Oil Spill Research Paper

April 20, 2010, an explosion killed 11 people instantly and injured 17 more. But the explosion did much more than that. The event occurred in the Gulf of Mexico, off the Coast of Louisiana, on an oilrig. Sometime after the rig exploded, it collapsed. There was now a much bigger problem on hand. 5,000 feet below the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, oil began to gush into the open waters of the gulf. Over the span of 87 days, oil continued to spew hundreds of barrels of oil from the Macondo wellhead. Once the leak was finally one hundred percent ceiled on July 15, 2010, the wellhead had leaked more than 130 gallons of oil into the gulf; therefore making the incident the largest accidental oil spill ever.

Once the oil left the wellhead, it spread throughout

Large amount of fish were reported dead in the thick brown mess. Pelicans and other bird where seen completely covered black which made their lives extremely hard. A small amount of oil on the birds feathers could leave the animal flightless and made it hard to swim and hunt for food. Scientists have discovered that pelicans nesting in Minnesota have been affected indirectly. These birds migrate to the Gulf every winter and were feeding on fish the winter after the spill occurred. They later went back to Minnesota to breed. Scientists saw that the eggs the birds were laying contained a chemical compound from the petroleum and dispersants. This may lead to reproductive problems down the road. The oil also killed an expediential amount of microscopic organisms including fish larvae. With these large amounts of eggs killed at once, the spill may have created gaps in the food chain. And the oil spill, even years later, still has lingering effects on the wildlife. There are many reports of fish that were born with deformities, and others that talk about groups of shrimp born without eyes. The impact of the oil spill stretches over 1,000 miles across the