Today there was petroleum polluted rain falling from the sky in Louisiana:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&v=oqPF9dtCc9gToday, there was an EarthQUake in Toronto Canada of all places. Speculation is already being discussed and studied in the geological community that it could have been triggered by the gulf oil leak.
Wildlife rescuers claiming that BP is now intentionally killing off a rare and endangered species of sea turtle:
http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?/weblog ... rtle_soup/And even before today's earthquake, the geological community as a whole had begun discussing a worst case scenario, a sea floor rupture. Essentially the "leak", if allowed to continue its unregulated flow as it currently is may eventually lead to a dam breaking effect. Just as a crack in an earthen water dam will grow and ultimately lead to the disastrous failure of the dam, so too this unchecked flow of oil will weaken the earth surrounding the pipe, starting at wherever the base of the pipe is at. Do remember that the oil is merely a fluid, a fluid that is underneath what we in our minds think of as being "solid earth". The current fear in the geological community is two fold.
First being that if the sea floor ruptures, then the "oil pocket" could instantly change from the current plume-like state of flow through the pipe it currently is into what would be the equivalent of lake waters gushing through a burst dam. Unfortunately, no one knows just how big the so called "pocket" is, nor how much oil remains inside it. After today's Toronto earthquake the fear in the within the geological community was escalated as a new concern not previously entertained was legitimately raised.
Fear number two. Said "oil pocket", as BP likes to downplay it, could very well be more like an underground ocean of oil, which is now theorized to possibly be linked to a north-south running faultline which lies under the north american continent. The grave concern with this line of thought is that if oil truely is a substance which supports one or both sides of these continental plates that the enviromental impact on sea life in the Gulf of Mexico could very soon become the least of our concerns.
Right now, geologists and geological surveyors are studying and trying to figure out something that was so stupidly obvious from the get go. If one would watch the live video feed of the oil leek and think about it for a minute it should be fairly obvious what's wrong with the image were seeing. The answer of what's wrong is unfortunately simple, "What's displacing the oil that's leaking out?". The general consensus of people I asked in person is "sea water", which is incorrect. There is only one pipe and it's got a steady oil flow coming out. If sea water was displacing the oil, then the visual of the broken pipe is wrong. If you don't understand wha tI'm getting at here then find yourself a plastic jug or bottle, fill up a tob/sink/bucket with water. Now take that empty bottl and shove it down to the bottom of your water filled container see what happens. I can tell you this, the air doesn't get displaced by the water at an even steady flow of pace, it kind of glugs.
The visual point I was getting at with that representation is that the oil coming out of that pipe is under tremendous pressure, and therefore needs no displacement. The correct statement of what's going on with BP's broken pipe is that the oil is squirting out. And the force of pressure is from the sea and land mass that resides on top of the "pocket" of oil.