United States: The Australian city’s Bondi Beach and other beaches were closed on Thursday as officials tried to determine the source of the mysterious tar balls that had washed up.
More about the news
The black and tar-like substance, which formed golf ball-sized masses, was first sighted on Tuesday in Coogee Beach, and the subsequent like led to beach closure along the city’s coast.
It also contains other beaches that are closed at the moment due to the oil, including Bronte, Tamarama, Gordons Bay, Clovelly, and part of Maroubra Beach.
Humans have been urged not to bathe, wade, or touch the debris, as seen in the video, until further notice is issued regarding the cleanup or removal of the material.
What more are the officials stating?
According to Sydney’s City Council of Randwick, where four beaches are located, initial tests pointed to the blobs as tar balls, created when oil interacts with debris and water.
According to Mayor Dylan Parker, “We don’t yet know what has happened to produce the debris washing up on our beaches,” NBC News reported.
“But we will continue to work with relevant authorities to ensure the safety of the public and clean up our beaches,” Parker added.
According to the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority, similar debris was also washed ashore at Congong, Frenchmans, Little Bay, and Malabar beaches.
The regulator has said that it is probing the source of the debris and whether or not it presents a threat to the public or the environment.
Experts call it a ‘chemical mystery’
As the statement added, “At this stage, the origin and contents of the balls remains a mystery. But the EPA is conducting extensive testing on a number of samples,” while mentioning that it could not be confirmed whether there was any presence of hydrocarbons, as the chief components of petroleum-based products, Randwick City Council pointed.
William Alexander Donald, a chemistry professor at the University of New South Wales Sydney said the tar balls are “quite a chemical mystery,”
The tar balls are “quite a chemical mystery,” William Alexander Donald, a chemistry professor at the University of New South Wales Sydney, NBC NEWS Thursday.
Risks to the community and environment
As per the regulatory report, the investigation to find the origin of the debris is still ongoing to understand the possible risks posed to the community and environment.
Preliminary findings by a group of researchers from the University of New South Wales show that the tar balls developed from weathered oil, perhaps from an accidental crude oil leakage or oil leakages that result from natural seepage from the ocean floor.
Donald said, “They are formed from oil that’s been released into the ocean, and probably crude oil, based on our chemical analysis,” NBC News reported.
As small oil globs or tar balls, the substance can negatively impact the water movement and feeding mechanics of marine animals, including seabirds, turtles, and fish.
It can also disperse the toxic compounds inside them into the water, he said, having a negative impact on the aquatic life in the region.
As Donald mentioned, these tar balls of such kind are “quite uncommon” in Australia. However, they have already appeared in other places, including on beaches in California and coastlines in the Gulf of Mexico after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.