What happens to oil if left at sea?
Complex processes of oil transformation in the marine environment start developing from the first seconds of oil’s contact with seawater. The progression, duration, and result of these transformations depend on the properties and composition of the oil itself, parameters of the actual oil spill, and environmental conditions. The main characteristics of oil transformations are their dynamism, especially at the first stages, and the close interaction of physical, chemical, and biological mechanisms of dispersion and degradation of oil components up to their complete disappearance as original substances. Similar to an intoxicated living organism, a marine ecosystem destroys, metabolizes, and deposits the excessive amounts of hydrocarbons, transforming them into more common and safer substances. Unfortunately, this happens so slowly that it raises hell with its local environment/ecosystem. There is no such thing as a “not so harmful” oil spill, whether it touch the land, or if it stays a t
