, 2011). Through the damage to the pipes of the well at a depth of 1,500 meters in the Gulf of Mexico, nearly 5 million barrels of oil poured for 152 days has, and the oil slick reached the area of 75,000 square kilometers (Mascarelli, 2010). .
After the explosion, a fire broke out on the platform. People tried to extinguish the fire with the ships but unsuccessfully, and the column of smoke rose to a height of 3 kilometers. The fire lasted for 36 hours, and on April 22, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil platform sank. Because of the oil spill, 1770 kilometers of coastline were contaminated. Fishing was banned, and fisheries closed for over a third of the entire Gulf of Mexico (Summerhayes, 2011). Oil hit all the states with access to the Gulf of Mexico; the hardest hit was for the states of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. .
Ecological Consequences.
This explosion triggered many changes the ecology of the area. First, it affected species. Around 1,100 miles of coastal area from Florida to Louisiana were contaminated (Mascarelli, 2010). In particular, people found about 600 dead sea turtles, 100 dolphins, 6,000 birds, and many other mammals (Dell'Amore, 2014). Because of the oil spill, mortality of whales and dolphins increased. According to the estimates of ecologists, the mortality of dolphins, namely bottlenose dolphin species, has increased 50 times (Dell'Amore, 2014). Tropical corals in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico also suffered from the enormous damage. Oil has leaked into the waters of the coastal nature reserves and wetlands that play an important role in maintaining vital functions of wildlife and migratory birds. The recorded increase in mortality of cetaceans in the northern Gulf of Mexico was several times higher in comparison with the previous years (2002-2009 years) (Dell'Amore, 2014).
Some researchers have expressed concerns about the impact of the oil accident on the Gulf Stream climate formation (Harzl & Pickl, 2012).
