Name: ______Date: ______Period: ______Smithsonian Ocean Find Your Blue: Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Interactive Activity https://ocean.si.edu/conservation/gulf-oil-spill/gulf-mexico-oil-spill-interactive Directions: Follow the above link to explore the impacts of the BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster. In each illustration, learn more by clicking on the orange + symbols! HOME TAB
Spill Start Date: ______ Spill End Date: ______ 1 barrel of oil = 42 gallons of oil. How many barrels spilled during this disaster? ______ Convert barrels spilled to gallons spilled in the space below. Show ALL your work.
DISASTER TAB
What caused this disaster? ______ Were there human casualties? How many? ______ The oil slick eventually covered ______square miles, about the size of ______.
+ Bird’s Eye View of the Spill
Which states were primarily impacted? ______
+ How Oil Is Made
How is oil made? List 3 main steps. o ______o ______o ______
CLEAN UP TAB
What happened to the Deepwater Horizon Rig? ______
+ Distressed Oiled Animals
How did animals (birds) get soaked in oil? ______ What happens (specifically) to oil soaked sea birds if they do not get help? ______
+ Clean Up Techniques
Summarize descriptions of the 5 clean up techniques used in the Gulf of Mexico. o Booms: ______o Burning: ______o Skimming: ______o Sorbent: ______o Rakes: ______
DISPERSANTS TAB
What are dispersants? How do they work? What do these chemicals do to the oil? ______
+ Dispersant Becomes Food
How does oil/dispersant impact zooplankton directly? ______ How can toxins be passed up food chain? ______ How can toxins pass down to deep sea? ______
+ Bacteria Help Clean Up Naturally
List the steps in bacterial degradation below. o ______o ______o ______o ______o ______ Were the bacteria able to clean up all the oil naturally? Why or why not? ______
OPEN OCEAN TAB
List 2 ways oil interacted with wildlife in the open ocean. o ______o ______
+ Capping the Well
Engineers tried to stop the flow many times. List 2 failed strategies used. o ______o ______ When was the well “declared dead”? ______ How many days had passed since disaster began? ______
+ Oil in the Gulf Food Web
List 3 ways animals can be exposed to oil. o ______o ______o ______ What are PAHs, and how do they harm animals (fish, mammals, and mollusks)? ______
+ Bad Timing for Bluefin Spawning
Bluefin tuna are an ______species. How might this spill further endanger this species? ______
DEEP SEA TAB
As much as ______% of spilled oil may have ended up on and buried beneath the sea floor.
+ ‘Sea Snot’ Drops to the Sea Floor
What is sea snot? ______ What happens when sea snot combines with marine snow? ______
+ Deep Sea Coral in Danger
What was the brown substance covering the coral? ______ How does/will this brown substance affect these slow growing coral species? ______
COAST TAB
How long did it take for oil to reach Louisiana? ______ Explain why marshes and estuaries are the worst places for oil to end up. ______
+ Estuary Fish All Grown Up
What percent of fish species depend on estuaries during their life cycle? ______ What did the oil kill that most affected juvenile fish? ______ List 3 popular fish species affected. ______
+ What Happened to the Filter Feeders?
Why were oyster populations hit especially hard? ______
TODAY TAB
+ Safe Seafood
Is the seafood from the Gulf of Mexico safe to eat? ______
+ The Gulf Today
List 3 aspects of the Gulf of Mexico’s natural ecology that helped recovery after this disaster. o ______o ______o ______