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Hydrocarbons in seawater

unique challenges. Limited water circulation can trap United States’ beaches. Coastal lagoons and estuaries
pollutants, exacerbating their long-term impact on experienced persistent contamination. The spill caused
coastal ecosystems and delaying recovery compared to a severe impact on various mollusk species and littoral
open oceans with more efficient dilution and dispersion crabs, with ghost crab populations almost eliminated.
mechanisms. 1,2,79 It also affected the breeding and growth of various fish
The Prestige oil spill, which occurred in November species belonging to all trophic levels. The critically
2002 off the coast of Galicia, Spain, remains one of endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtles’ nesting grounds
Europe’s worst environmental disasters. The single- were affected, impacting their population for decades. 84
hulled oil tanker suffered a structural failure in a storm In 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 41
and eventually broke in half and sank, unleashing an nautical miles off the coast of Louisiana, the Deepwater
estimated 63,000 tons of viscous crude oil into the Horizon offshore platform disaster occurred due to the
Atlantic. 27,80 Almost 3,000 km of coastline across Spain, blowout of an oil well, following the explosion and fire
Portugal, and France were heavily polluted; the thick, of the drilling rig. The source of the spill was located
black crude smothered beaches and rocky shores, at great depth, over 1,500 meters below sea level, and
destroying sensitive habitats and severely impacting it affected vast areas of the Gulf of Mexico, including
the rich marine ecosystem. 80-82 An estimated 115,000 deepwater ecosystems, surface waters, and over
to 230,000 seabirds, particularly diving species, such 1,770 km of coastline across five states in the United
as guillemots, razorbills, and puffins, perished from States (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and
hypothermia, starvation, and drowning after their Texas). For almost 3 months, an estimated over 670,000
feathers were matted with oil, compromising their tons of crude oil spewed uncontrollably into the Gulf
waterproofing and ability to fly. Marine mammals, of Mexico, where the spill created an oil slick that, at
80
including porpoises and dolphins, were also at risk from its peak, covered over 28,000 km and is ultimately
2
direct contact and consuming contaminated prey. 80-82 considered the most significant ecological disaster to
Shellfish, crustaceans, and various marine invertebrates have occurred in the United States. 28,46 It caused the
suffered extensive mortality, and fishing grounds, largest and longest marine mammal unusual mortality
vital to the local economy, were closed for extended event in the Gulf, with thousands of dolphins and whales
periods. 29,80-82 The long-term effects on fish stocks, found stranded, many with lung disease, reproductive
particularly those with benthic or demersal life habits, failure, and compromised immune systems. Over
and the wider food chain are still being studied, with 167,000 sea turtles were estimated to have died, and
concerns about persistent contamination and shifts in Kemp’s ridley sea turtle nests were significantly affected
trophic levels. 81,82 and decreased. The spill also led to a significant increase
Although oil spills resulting from nautical accidents in strandings of marine mammals for years afterward.
have been numerous and frequent, other events related Widespread mortality was also observed at all trophic
to oil exploration, extraction, and production have levels, from various bird species (e.g., pelicans) to fish,
caused particularly significant environmental disasters. deep-sea corals, and larvae of both vertebrates and
A clear example is the event on the offshore oil platform invertebrates. Over 6,800 dead animals were reported
Ixtoc 1 in 1979, located in the Bay of Campeche, off the during the same year of the accident (2010). The
coast of Ciudad del Carmen, in the Gulf of Mexico. Due fishing and tourism industries, vital to the Gulf states,
to a series of factors and rather complex dynamics, the suffered immense economic losses, and the long-term
extraction well collapsed, generating an explosion and a effects on fish stocks and coastal wetland ecosystems,
fire that caused the entire structure to sink. This caused a which experienced accelerated erosion, continue to be
crude oil spill directly from the base of the well at about monitored and addressed to this day. 1,2,28,46,84
3,200 meters of depth, among the largest in history, The Gulf War oil spill, which occurred in 1991 during
estimated at 476,000 tons. Due to the depth of the the Gulf War, is considered the largest oil spill in history.
source of the leak and the limited technological means It was caused by Iraqi forces intentionally releasing
available at the time, the operations to close the leak oil into the Persian Gulf to impede a potential United
were very complex and protracted for approximately States military forces beach landing. The spill involved
9 months, rising to one of the most significant ecological millions of barrels of oil from tankers, pipelines, and
disasters known at that time. Oil from the well reached terminals, causing extensive environmental damage
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Mexican coastal areas and extended north to Texas to the coastal habitats and marine wildlife of Kuwait
(United States), affecting approximately 270 km of the and Saudi Arabia. Vast hydrocarbon mixtures were

Volume 22 Issue 6 (2025) 27 doi: 10.36922/AJWEP025290224