Gulf oil spill update: BP containment dome foiled by deep-sea ice crystals
The quick fix that BP was hoping for by lowering a containment dome over the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico was not successful. Workers began the operation of lowering the metal container over the Deepwater Horizon oilrig leak on Thursday night, with hopes that it would staunch most of the flow of oil. However, a build up of ice crystals blocked pipes in the container, preventing the siphoning off of oil. From a report in the Guardian: The problem is blamed on methane gas, partly frozen into slush by the cold temperatures on the seabed at 1,500 metres…
