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Categories: Biology: Botany, Geoscience: Environmental Issues

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Porous rock containing oil and natural gas are buried so deep inside the earth that shale operators rely on complex models of the underground environment to estimate fossil fuel recovery. These simulations are notoriously complex, requiring highly-skilled operators to run them. These factors indirectly impact the cost of shale oil production and ultimately, how much consumers pay for their fuel.

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A study has found that patches of protected forest on oil palm plantations play an important role in helping to conserve endangered species including hornbill birds and dipterocarp trees.

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Researchers have developed a highly porous smart sponge that selectively soaks up oil in water. It can absorb more than 30 times its weight and be reused many dozens of times.

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A researcher has used new detection methods to identify 85 previously unknown submarine landslides that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico between 2008 and 2015, leading to questions about the stability of oil rigs and other structures, such as pipelines built in the region.

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Microbial life is bubbling up to the ocean floor along with fluids from deeply buried petroleum reservoirs, reports a team of scientists.

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Oil pollution is known to cause lethal and sublethal responses on coral communities in the short-term, but its long-term effects have not been widely studied. The Bahia Las Minas oil spill, which contaminated about 40 square kilometers (about 15 square miles) near the Smithsonian's Galeta Point Marine Laboratory in Colon and became the largest recorded near coastal habitats in Panama, served as an opportunity to understand how coral reefs in tropical ecosystems recover from acute contamination over time.

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Scientists review what they -- and their science colleagues from around the world -- have learned from studying the spill over the past decade.

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Since the 2010 BP oil spill, marine scientists have sampled more than 2,500 individual fish representing 91 species from 359 locations across the Gulf of Mexico and found evidence of oil exposure in all of them, including some of the most popular types of seafood. The highest levels were detected in yellowfin tuna, golden tilefish and red drum.

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Offshore energy-producing platforms in US waters of the Gulf of Mexico are emitting twice as much methane, a greenhouse gas, than previously thought, according to a new study.

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An international team of researchers has developed an enzyme produced from agricultural waste that could be used as an important additive in laundry detergents. By using an enzyme produced from a by-product of mustard seeds, they hope to develop a low-cost naturally derived version of lipase, the second largest commercially produced enzyme, which is used in various industries for the production of fine chemicals, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and biodiesel including detergents.

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Toxic and invisible oil spread well beyond the known satellite footprint of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, according to a new study. These new findings have important implications for environmental health during future oil spills.

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A new study adds a new layer to understanding how an oil spill could impact marine life. A diverse community of worms and other marine organisms on the seafloor plays a large role in nutrient cycling, organic matter burial, and remineralization. The burrowing and feeding activities of these organisms or bioturbation helps in the oxygenation of the sediment.

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Oil poses a considerable danger to aquatic life. Researchers have developed a new technology for the removal of such contaminations: Textiles with special surface properties passively skim off the oil and move it into a floating container. The scientists used surfaces from the plant kingdom as a model.

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Researchers have come up with a new, safe way to clean up oil spills using compounds equally useful as common household cleaning products.

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The tiny organisms cling to oil droplets and perform a great feat: As a single organism, they may produce methane from oil by a process called alkane disproportionation. Previously this was only known from symbioses between bacteria and archaea. Scientists have now found cells of this microbe called Methanoliparia in oil reservoirs worldwide.

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A team of researchers is conducting the largest-ever simulation of the Deepwater Horizon spill to determine more precisely where hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil dispersed following the drilling rig's explosion in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

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Marine snow is the phenomena of flakes of falling organic material and biological debris cascading down a water column like snowflakes. But an oil spill like Deepwater Horizon will add oil and dispersants to the mix, making marine oil snow that is can be toxic to organisms in deep-sea ecosystems.

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A new study finds that the loss of marsh-edge salt grasses and mangroves due to disturbances such as heavy oiling from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill doubles the rate of shoreline erosion in hard-hit marshes.

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A new study takes an in-depth look at the challenging geologic conditions faced by the crew of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and the role those conditions played in the 2010 disaster.

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Nine years ago tomorrow -- April 20, 2010 -- crude oil began leaking from the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig into the Gulf of Mexico in what turned out to be the largest marine oil spill in history. A long-term study suggests the oil is still affecting the salt marshes of the Gulf Coast, and reveals the key role that marsh grasses play in the overall recovery of these important coastal wetlands.