Like BP PLC's gushing well, 1979's Ixtoc 1 spill began with an explosion and a faulty blowout preventer and ended with more than 100 million gallons of crude flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. Remnants of that spill can still be found on Mexico's coast and could shed light on what to expect along the northern Gulf. NOAABy Ryan Dezember, Press-Register
Sunday, September 12, 2010, 6:47 AM  

As the northern Gulf Coast ponders the long-term effects of the oil spill, attention is increasingly turning to the southwest, where 30 years ago the Ixtoc 1 well spewed millions of gallons of crude onto shorelines in Texas and Mexico. Texas A&M University researcher Wes Tunnell discovered during recent trips to the Bay of Campeche that remnants of big spills can linger in water and on land for decades. Many looking for insight into this summer’s spill have sought out Tunnell, who witnessed and studied the Ixtoc events of 1979. But “I just didn’t have the answers,” he said in an interview from his office in Corpus Christi, where he is associate director of the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies. “I hadn’t been back to some (areas) in 30 years, so I decided to go down and check them out.” Like BP PLC’s Maconda well, which spewed more than 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, the Ixtoc spill began with rig explosion and a failed blowout preventer. From June 3, 1979 until a relief well was completed in March 1980, some 140 million gallons gushed from the well owned by Mexico’s state-run oil company, Petróleos Mexicanos, or Pemex. Upon arriving at Enmedio Island in the Mexican state of Veracruz this June Tunnell quickly found hardened tar mats — essentially the same material as asphalt spread on highways — among the reefs. “It was, I’d say, 5 to 10 percent of the size that it was 30 years ago,” Tunnell said. “But the message was, it’s still there.” Between an inch and three inches thick — compared to the 12-15 inches of its initial thickness — the tar mats were camouflaged by hard and, in some cases, algae-covered, outer shells, Tunnell said. When it was cracked open, however, the rock’s nature was clear. Tunnell said he could “still see some sheen or shine of the oily material inside of it.” And, “You could smell petroleum if you put it up to your nose, which kind of surprised me after 30 years.” …

Ixtoc spill still contaminates coastlines; is that northern Gulf’s fate?