"Tarball
and
'Tarbars'"
Original Photos
At Galveston Bay, Texas
March, 2002
by mkrause381@gmail.com
mkrause54@yahoo.com
These curiosities were found along the beach at Galveston Bay, TX in Spring, 2002.
The top photo shows what appears to be a very dark brown/black "rock" on the sand, surrounded by dark orange branches of sea grass.
Further along the shore were larger "tarbars" reaching from the shore into the bay, as seen in the bottom photo.
Locals probably would have immediately identified these as tarballs, near off-shore oil drilling locations.
Oil spills happen in these locations. Time Magazine briefly reported on the formation of oil tarballs after the Louisiana Oil Spill. The theory is that the oil spill spreads into a thin oil slick which then breaks into smaller patches. The oil mixes with water and is emulsified into thick sticky residues. Wind and waves help form tarballs which can travel hundreds of miles through the sea.
"Oil and water don't mix" in old wives' tales, everyday life, or in college chemistry. Maybe the presence of oil-drilling additives or branches, seaweed, or other ocean debris become a nidus for the formation of tarballs.
The "tarbars" in the bottom photo seem to be tarballs which became larger. The tarbars appear to be attached to the sea grasses in the sand at the edge of the beach.
These photos are more relevant and understandable after the large Louisiana oil spill, 2010. The photos also raise the question of how the "dispersants" debated after the oil spill would affect the timing and formation of these tarballs and tarbars, which seem to have collected the oil at Galveston Bay.
A quick Internet search on this topic revealed only two suppliers of dispersants. One company ceased operations in 2003. Apparently a variety of emulsions and detergents, some termed "lignosulfates", are used to trap newly spilled oil in oily "soils".
Email mkrause381@gmail.com or mkrause54@yahoo.com to comment on this blog. Other blogs posted by mary for monthlynotesstaff are available at http://monthlynotes.blogspot.com and monthlynotes through monthlynotessix on www.google.com.
