Microbes consuming oil from the Gulf of Mexico's BP spill deplete oxygen levels when they die, raising the threat of an expanded "dead zone," which endangers some marine life.

If the oil spill can't be contained, the Gulf of Mexico could have another "dead zone in the making," according to Sylvia Earle, a marine biologist and National Geographic explorer-in-residence.

The Gulf of Mexico faces a renewed and enlarged threat to marine life: a low-oxygen “dead zone” about the size of Massachusetts, caused by chemical runoff into the Mississippi River that flows ...

Gulf oil spill could widen, worsen 'dead zone' Date: June 8, 2010 Source: Michigan State University Summary: While an out-of-control gusher deep in the Gulf of Mexico fouls beaches and chokes ...

Oxygen levels fell significantly in deep-sea areas of the Gulf of Mexico contaminated by the BP oil spill, researchers said Tuesday, but not enough to create biological “dead zones” that ...

Gulf of Mexico oil spill News from United Press International. ... 2 dead, hundreds injured in ... "kill zone" surrounding the blown well.[22] In late November 2010, 4,200 square miles (11,000 ...

Oxygen levels fell significantly in deep-sea areas of the Gulf of Mexico contaminated by the BP oil spill, researchers said Tuesday, but not enough to create biological “dead zones” that ...

Researchers predict the Gulf of Mexico "dead zone," an underwater area with little or no oxygen, will be unusually large this year. But it's unknown how the oil spill will affect it. ...

Fire and a vast oil spill, on top of one of the globe’s most productive fisheries. Photo: U.S. Coast Guard The Gulf of Mexico is a magnificent resource: a kind of natural engine for the ...

However, none compares to the world's largest oil spill caused by the US in the Gulf of Mexico, the likes of which are still having wildlife impacts today. When it comes to natural disasters, no ...

The massive oil spill was discovered six days ago in the Gulf of Mexico near a 67-mile pipeline system operated by Main Pass Oil Gathering Co. in the lower Bayou.