Ping Wang, a University of South Florida geologist, found beach cleanup efforts in the Panhandle area and Alabama left tar balls and contaminated beaches.
His findings are included in a report to the National Science Foundation, a release said.
Wang and a team of USF graduate students found tar balls on nearly 99 miles of the 112 miles of beaches studied, showing that manual beach cleanups left tar balls in 20 to 40 percent of the contaminated area.
Their report is part of the Coastal Research Laboratory’s effort to provide baseline beach condition and initial beach oiling from the Deepwater Horizon spill.
