When the team pulled up the multi-corer, they were stunned by what they found: the cylinders filled with pitch black, gelatinous goo that looks exactly like crude oil. But it didn’t act like oil: the scientists were able to wash it off their hands easily, and it smelled strongly of sulfur, not petroleum. “As a sedimentoloist I can tell you that none of us have ever seen anything like this in the Gulf of Mexico,” Hollander says, “especially not in shallow water. It certainly didn’t belong there.”

thenation.com/article/157667/mystery-black-goo

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