Evidence of oil on Gulf floor mounts

While the surface signs of this summer's oil spill are harder to find, that's not the case on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. Just ask Vernon Asper, a professor of marine science at the University of Southern Mississippi's operation at Stennis Space Center, Miss. Asper and his colleagues are studying soil samples taken from the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. A "multicorer" used to obtain three samples, one 140 nautical miles away from the busted well, one 16 nautical miles away and one intermediate, shows a big difference. The soil the furthest away is all mud, while a sample from the intermediate location has a thin layer of oil. The one near the well is striped with a bottom layer of mud, a layer that appears to be oil and a top layer of slime that may be oil with bacteria feeding on it. What all this means for sea life is still to be determined. (Source: OnEarth magazine, 11/04/10) Federal scientists also have found damage to deep sea corals and other marine life several miles from where the BP well spewed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. They found dead and dying corals, some coated with a brown substance, seven miles from the BP well. (Source: AP, 11/05/10)