A team of scientists from UNSW analysed the mysterious unknown debris that washed up on Sydney beaches this week.
Coogee Beach, one of the famously sunny beaches on Sydney's coast, was closed this week after lifeguards discovered dark, ball-shaped debris.
Hundreds of the sticky blobs have washed up on shore throughout the week, including at Gordon's Bay and Maroubra beach, with further beach closures announced today.
Randwick City Council said preliminary test results "show the material is a hydrocarbon-based pollutant which is consistent with the makeup of tar balls".
"Australia's beaches, including recently along Sydney's coastline, have seen the arrival of tar balls - dark, spherical, sticky blobs formed from weathered oil," says Professor Alex Donald, from the School of Chemistry at UNSW Sydney who, alongside a team of researchers, carried out an array of preliminary analyses of the debris. The 'weathering' process refers to the changes that occur to oil as it spends time in the environment.
This phenomenon isn't new. Globally, tar balls have been appearing on shores for decades. On Californian beaches, tar balls form because of natural oil seeping from the seafloor. The 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico left massive tar ball deposits along coastlines.
"In Australia, Golden Beach in Queensland and Ninety Mile Beach in Gippsland have seen similar incidents, often after oil spills or shipping discharges," says Prof. Donald. "These sticky blobs typically point to larger environmental issues, whether caused by human activity or natural oil seepage."
