PETROLEUM
Tarballs are an aquatic pollutant in most environments, although they can occur
naturally, for example, in the Santa Barbara Channel of California. Their concentration
and features have been used to assess the extent of oil spills. Their composition can be
used to identify their sources of origin, and tarballs themselves may be dispersed over
long distances by deep sea currents. They are slowly decomposed by bacteria, including
Chromobacterium violaceum, Cladosporium resinae, Bacillus submarinus, Micrococcus
varians, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida marina and Saccharomyces estuari.
Whales
James S. Robbins has argued that the advent of petroleum-refined kerosene saved
some species of great whales from extinction by providing an inexpensive substitute for
whale oil, thus eliminating the economic imperative for open-boat whaling.
Alternatives to petroleum
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