Prabhakar Clement and Joel Hayworth, faculty members in Auburn University’s Department of Civil Engineering, have completed a preliminary field study showing that tar balls and tar mat fragments found on Alabama beaches after Hurricane Isaac have the same chemical makeup as BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil.

The team found that tar mat fragments found on Alabama beaches after Hurricane Isaac are likely fragmented from tar mats buried offshore. The concentration of polycyclic aromatic  hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the post Hurricane Isaac samples are not substantially different from PAH concentrations in emulsified oil which first arrived on Alabama’s beaches almost three years ago. 

View the team's study here