While some tar balls may be as large as pancakes, most are coin-sized. Winds and waves continue to stretch and tear the oil patches into smaller pieces, or tar balls. This emulsion is much thicker and stickier than the original oil. At the same time, some crude oils mix with water to form an emulsion that often looks like chocolate pudding. In the cases of heavier types of oil, such as crude oil or home heating oil, much of the oil remains behind. Initially, the lighter components of the oil evaporate much like a small gasoline or diesel spill.
These processes are generally called " weathering." Various physical, chemical, and biological processes change the appearance of the oil. Winds and waves tear the slick into smaller patches that are scattered over a much wider area. During the first few hours of a spill, the oil spreads into a thin slick. When crude oil (or a heavier refined product) floats on the ocean surface, its physical characteristics change. Tar balls that appear on central California shores during the winter months often originate from southern California seeps on the seafloor. Tar balls, the little, dark-colored pieces of oil that can sometimes stick to your feet when you go to the beach, are often remnants of oil spills but can also be produced from natural seeps, places where oil slowly escapes from the earth surface above some petroleum reservoirs. What are tar balls, and how do they form? Here are answers to a number of questions about tar balls:
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