Habitats and Biota of the Gulf of Mexico: Before the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
Publication year: 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4939-3456-0
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The Gulf of Mexico is an open and dynamic marine ecosystem rich in natural resources but heavily impacted by human activities, including agricultural, industrial, commercial and coastal development. Nutrients and pollutants from coastal communities and dozens of rivers flow into the Gulf, including material from the Mississippi River watershed, which drains over one third of continental United States. The Gulf of Mexico has been continuously exposed to petroleum hydrocarbons for millions of years from natural oil and gas seeps on the sea floor, and more recently from oil drilling and production activities located in the water near and far from shore. Major accidental oil spills in the Gulf are infrequent; two of the most significant include the Ixtoc I blowout in the Bay of Campeche in 1979 and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in 2010.
Subject: Earth and Environmental Science, Gulf of Mexico, Marine Endangered Species, Marine Habitats, Marine Sediment and Water Quality, Marine Wildlife, Environmental Management, Marine & Freshwater Sciences
