NOAA An abundance of sea life inhabits the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. Researchers found pollution from flood runoff reached the marine sanctuary.
Flooding from major storms like Hurricane Harvey polluted coral reefs more than 100 miles offshore, according to a new study by researchers at local universities, including Rice and Texas A&M. Those are not the reefs that we typically would think are in danger of being affected by floodwaters from the land, said Rice University researcher Adrienne Correa. It was a big surprise.
Recreational divers were the first to notice that something was wrong a few months after Houston s 2016 Tax Day Flood, during which 240 billion gallons of rainwater fell on Harris County, Correa said.
Environmental News Network - Pollution From Hurricane Harvey Traveled 100 Miles Off Texas Coast enn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from enn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The research shows just how far Houston’s flooding problems go.
April 12, 2021, 1:23 PM
An abundance of sea life inhabits the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. Researchers found pollution from flood runoff reached the marine sanctuary.
Flooding from major storms like Hurricane Harvey polluted coral reefs more than 100 miles offshore, according to a new study by researchers at local universities, including Rice and Texas A&M. Those are not the reefs that we typically would think are in danger of being affected by floodwaters from the land, said Rice University researcher Adrienne Correa. It was a big surprise.
Recreational divers were the first to notice that something was wrong a few months after Houston s 2016 Tax Day Flood, during which 240 billion gallons of rainwater fell on Harris County, Correa said.
Houston floods sent gross bacteria to offshore reefs futurity.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from futurity.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
“We were pretty shocked,” said marine biologist Adrienne Correa, co-author of the study in Frontiers in Marine Science. “One thing we always thought the Flower Garden Banks were safe from was terrestrial runoff and nutrient pollution. It’s a jolt to realize that in these extreme events, it’s not just the salt marsh or the seagrass that we need to worry about. Offshore ecosystems can be affected too.”
The Flower Garden Banks sit atop several salt domes near the edge of the continental shelf about 100 miles from the Texas and Louisiana coast. Rising several hundred feet from the seafloor, the domes are topped with corals, algae, sponges and fish. Each bank, or dome-topped ecosystem, is separated by miles of open ocean. The Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, which was recently expanded, protects 17 banks.