Affected salt marshesSILLIMAN ET AL
Two years after the Louisiana coastline was coated by crude oil released from the broken Deepwater Horizon oil rig, much of the 75 kilometres of affected salt marshes has recovered, but some areas that were already degraded by human activities have been irrevocably lost. The report, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is thus cause for both optimism and concern.
“It would be premature to conclude that the oil-impacted marshes are out of the proverbial woods yet,” said Christopher D'Elia, dean of the School of the Coast and Environment at Louisiana State University.
Salt marshes protect the land and sea from each other. They shelter the shoreline from eroding waves, while their plants absorb nutrients from inland run-offs that might ...
