Decades-old barrels of industrial waste still impacting ocean floor off LA
In 2020, haunting images of corroded metal barrels in the deep ocean off Los Angeles leapt into the public consciousness. … [N]ew research from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography reveals that the barrels with halos contained caustic alkaline waste, which created the halos as it leaked out. Though the study’s findings can’t identify which specific chemicals were present in the barrels, DDT manufacturing did produce alkaline as well as acidic waste. Other major industries in the region such as oil refining also generated significant alkaline waste.
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