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Gulf of Mexico Dead ZOne
Currently, the Gulf of Mexico's dead zone, off the coast of Louisiana and Texas, is the largest hypoxic zone in the United States. The Mississippi River, which is the drainage area for 41% of the continental United States, dumps high-nutrient runoff, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, into the Gulf of Mexico. -
Castle Bravo
Castle Bravo was the most powerful nuclear device ever detonated by the United States, with a yield of 15 megatons of TNT. That yield, far exceeding the expected yield of 4 to 6 megatons, combined with other factors, led to the most significant accidental radiological contamination ever caused by the United States. -
Monamata Disease
Minamata disease was first discovered in Minamata city in Kumamoto prefecture, Japan, in 1956. It was caused by the release of methylmercury in the industrial wastewater from the Chisso Corporation's chemical factory, which continued from 1932 to 1968. This highly toxic chemical bioaccumulated in shellfish and fish in Minamata Bay and the Shiranui Sea, which, when eaten by the local populace, resulted in mercury poisoning. While cat, dog, pig, and human deaths continued for 36 years, the governm -
Silent Spring
A book published in 1962 that helped launched the contemporary American enviornmental movement. Written by Rachel Carson. -
Palomares B52 Crash
The 1966 Palomares B-52 crash or Palomares incident occurred on 17 January 1966, when a B-52G bomber of the USAF Strategic Air Command collided with a KC-135 tanker during mid-air refuelling at 31,000 feet (9,450 m) over the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Spain. The KC-135 was completely destroyed when its fuel load ignited, killing all four crew members. The B-52G broke apart, killing three of the seven crew members aboard. -
Tragedy of the commons
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Door to Hell
The Door to Hell is noted for its natural gas fire which has been burning continuously since it was lit by Soviet petrochemical scientists in 1971, fed by the rich natural gas deposits in the area. The pungent smell of burning sulfur pervades the area for some distance. -
Seveso Disaster
An industrial accident in a small chemical manufacturing plant. It resulted in the highest known exposure to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin in residential populations, which gave rise to numerous scientific studies and standardized industrial safety regulations. The EU industrial safety regulations are known as the Seveso II Directive. -
Amoco Cadiz
The Amoco Cadiz ran aground from Portsall Rocks on the coast of Brittany, France and split in three and sank, all together resulting in the largest oil spill of its kind in history to date. -
The Love Canal
In the mid-1970s Love Canal became the subject of national and international attention after it was revealed in the press that the site had formerly been used to bury 21,000 tons of toxic waste by Hooker Chemical.The dumpsite was discovered and investigated by the local newspaper, the Niagara Falls Gazette, from 1976 through the evacuation in 1978. Potential health problems were first raised by reporter Michael H. Brown in July 1978. -
Three Mile Island Nuclear Explosion
The Three Mile Island accident was a partial nuclear meltdown which occurred in one of the two Three Mile Island nuclear reactors in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. It was the worst accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant history. The meltdown resulted in the release of small amounts of radioactive gases and radioactive iodine into the environment. -
Pacific Gyre Garbage Patch
A gyre marine of debris in the central north american pacific ocean. -
The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
An oil tanker struck Prince William Sound's Bligh reef and spilled 260,000 to 750,000 barrels of crude oil over a few days, It is considered to be one of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters. -
Libby, Monatana Asbestos Contamination
The W.R. Grace plant in Libby, Mont., spewed asbestos over the small town for decades, sickening more than 1,000 people and killing more than 200. Smoke from the factory coated the town in tremolite asbestos, a particularly toxic form linked to numerous diseases including mesothelioma. -
The Kuwait Oil Fires
The Kuwaiti oil fires were caused by Iraqi military forces setting fire to more than 600 oil wells as part of a scorched earth policy while retreating from Kuwait in 1991 after invading the country, but being driven out by Coalition military forces. The fires started in January and February 1991 and the last one was extinguished by November 1991 -
Baja Mare Cyanide spill
A leak of cyanide near Baia Mare, Romania, into the Someş River by the gold mining company Aurul, a joint-venture of the Australian company Esmeralda Exploration and the Romanian government. The polluted waters eventually reached the Tisza and then the Danube, killing large numbers of fish in Hungary and Yugoslavia. The spill has been called the worst environmental disaster in Europe since the Chernobyl disaster -
The Al mishraq Fire
the largest human-made release of sulfur dioxide ever recorded when a fire gained control and burned for almost a month. At its height, the fire was putting 21,000 tonnes of sulfur dioxide a day into the atmosphere. The pollution at Mosul city which is about 45 km from Mishraq reached a catastrophic level. For over 48 hours the white smoke from sulfur dioxide could be seen in the air. Many people were taken into hospitals and most vegetation was ki -
E-Waste in Guiyu, China
the largest electronic waste site on earth. In 2005 there were 60,000 e-waste workers in Guiyu who processed the more than 100 truckloads that were transported to the 52 square kilometre area every day. Guiyu is nicknamed the "electronic graveyard" -
Jilin Chemical Plant Explosions
Series of explosions in the Petrochemical plant in Jilin City, Jilin Province, China. The explosions killed six people, injured dozens more and caused the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents. -
Sidoarjo Mud Flow
an erupting mud volcano[1] in the subdistrict of Porong, Sidoarjo in East Java, Indonesia that has been in eruption since May 2006. It is the biggest mud volcano in the world; responsibility for it was credited to the blowout of a natural gas well drilled by PT Lapindo Brantas, although some scientists and company officials contend it was caused by a distant earthquake. -
TVA Kingston Fossil Plant COal Fly Ash Slurry Spill
The wall of a containment pond at Tennessee’s Kingston Fossil Plant gave way. It released 1.3 million of fly ash, a coal-combustion waste product captured and stored in wet form. -
Deep Water Horizon BP OIl Spill
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect is considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry, estimated to be between 8% and 31% larger in volume than the earlier Ixtoc I The oil spill. Following the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, which claimed 11 lives, a sea-floor oil gusher flowed for 87 days, until it was capped on 15 July 2010. -
Fukushima Daiichi
One of the largest earthquakes in the recorded history of the world occurred on the east coast of northern Japan. Also caused a major tsumani, causing nearly 20,000 deaths.
