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Science 7 September 1979:
Vol. 205. no. 4410, pp. 999 - 1001
DOI: 10.1126/science.205.4410.999
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Articles

Observation of a Subsurface Oil-Rich Layer in the Open Ocean

GEORGE R. HARVEY 1, ADOLFO G. REQUEJO 1, PHILIP A. MCGILLIVARY 1, and JOHN M. TOKAR 1

1 NOAA/Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratories, Ocean Chemistry Laboratory, Miami, Florida 33149

A layer of water at a depth of 200 meters containing 3 to 12 milligrams per liter of oil was found during February and March 1978 over a distance of 800 nautical miles in the southwest North Atlantic and the eastern Caribbean. The geochemistry and carbon-14 activity of the oil shows it to be a weathered crude, probably from a submarine seep. Although the dimensions of the oily layer were not determined, conservative estimates indicate that more than I megaton could have been present.

Submitted on May 22, 1979

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)