Mystery globules on Sydney beach identified as 'tar balls'
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Tar balls form when slicks of spilled oil are battered by wind and waves, mixing to form a sticky seawater emulsion that eventually breaks into smaller pieces or “balls”.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
Sydney – Chemical testing has identified the mysterious black globules washing ashore on a popular Sydney beach as petroleum-based “tar balls”, local officials have said.
The authorities were baffled earlier this week when thousands of black spheres
Tests showed the material was a “hydrocarbon-based pollutant” consistent with the “phenomena known as ‘tar balls’”, the Randwick City Council said on Oct 16 evening.
Tar balls form when slicks of spilled oil are battered by wind and waves, mixing to form a sticky seawater emulsion that eventually breaks into smaller pieces or “balls”.
It was still not known where the tar balls came from, council officials said.
The “mysterious, black, ball-shaped debris” began appearing on Coogee Beach on Oct 15 afternoon, the local mayor said earlier this week. AFP
