Deep Underwater, Oil Threatens Reefs

[highplainsdem]

Source: NY Times

Deep Underwater, Oil Threatens Reefs
By JOHN COLLINS RUDOLF
Published: June 1, 2010


Last September, marine scientists studying deep-sea biology in the northern Gulf of Mexico lowered a submersible robot off the side of a government research vessel and piloted it 1,300 feet to the ocean floor.

There, in complete darkness and near-freezing temperatures, the robot’s lights revealed a thriving colony of corals, anemones, fish, crustaceans and other sea life rivaling that of any shallow-water reef in the world. Researchers onboard were elated.

“We flipped on the lights, and there was one of the largest coral reefs in the Gulf of Mexico sitting right in front of us,” said Erik Cordes, a marine biologist at Temple University and chief scientist on the vessel, the Ronald H. Brown.

Nine months later, the warm thrill of discovery has cooled into dread. The reef lies just 20 miles northeast of BP’s blown-out well, making it one of at least three extensive deepwater reefs lying directly beneath the oil slick in the gulf.

-snip-


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/02/us/02coral.html

[nashville_brook]

1. k n r

[Whoa_Nelly]

2. Without the reefs

oceans die.

Oceans die, the earth dies. :(

<snip>
And coral are very important in controlling how much carbon dioxide is in the ocean water. You read earlier about how the coral polyp turns carbon dioxide in the water into a limestone shell. Without coral, the amount of carbon dioxide in the water would rise dramatically and that would affect all living things on Earth.

http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/students/coral/coral4.htm

[KillCapitalism]

3. This will be so far reaching.

If it continues for much longer, it will destroy Australia's Great Barrier reef.