Editing Kuwaiti oil fires (section)

==Damage to coastline==
[[File:Mummified Bird.jpg|thumb|right|A 2008 picture of the mummified remains of a bird, encrusted within the top hard layer of a dry oil lake in the Kuwaiti desert.]]
Although scenarios that predicted long-lasting environmental impacts on a global atmospheric level due to the burning oil sources did not transpire, long-lasting ground level [[oil spill]] impacts were detrimental to the environment regionally.<ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1007/bf02394670 | volume=17 | title=Environmental impact of the Gulf War: An integrated preliminary assessment | year=1993 | journal=Environmental Management | pages=557–562  | last1 = Khordagui | first1 = Hosny | issue=4 | bibcode=1993EnMan..17..557K| s2cid=153413376 }}</ref>

Forty-six oil wells are estimated to have gushed,<ref name="ReferenceB"/> and before efforts to cap them began, they were releasing approximately 300,000–400,000 barrels of oil per day, with the last [[oil gusher|gusher]] being capped occurring in the latter days of October 1991.<ref name="auto"/>

The Kuwaiti Oil Minister estimated between twenty-five and fifty million barrels of unburned oil from damaged facilities pooled to create approximately 300 oil lakes, that contaminated around 40 million tons of sand and earth. The mixture of desert sand, unignited oil spilled and [[soot]] generated by the burning oil wells formed layers of hard "tarcrete", which covered nearly five percent of Kuwait's land mass.<ref>[[NASA|National Aeronautics and Space Administration]], [[Goddard Space Flight Center]] News, [http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2003/0321kuwaitfire.html ''1991 Kuwait Oil Fires''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150718095123/http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2003/0321kuwaitfire.html |date=2015-07-18 }}, March 21, 2003.</ref><ref name="earthshots.usgs.gov">[[United States Geological Survey]], [http://earthshots.usgs.gov/Iraq/Iraqtext Campbell, Robert Wellman, ed. 1999. ''Iraq and Kuwait: 1972, 1990, 1991, 1997.'' Earthshots: Satellite Images of Environmental Change. U.S. Geological Survey. http://earthshots.usgs.gov] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120429014811/http://earthshots.usgs.gov/Iraq/Iraqtext |date=April 29, 2012 }}, revised February 14, 1999.</ref><ref name="unep.org">[[United Nations]], [http://www.unep.org/dewa/westasia/data/Knowledge_Bases/Iraq/Reports/UNEPGCIraq1993.pdf ''Updated Scientific Report on the Environmental Effects of the Conflict between Iraq and Kuwait''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100728104917/http://www.unep.org/dewa/westasia/data/Knowledge_Bases/Iraq/Reports/UNEPGCIraq1993.pdf |date=2010-07-28 }}, March 8, 1993.</ref>

Cleaning efforts were led by the [[Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research]] and the Arab Oil Co., who tested a number of technologies including the use of [[petroleum-degrading bacteria]] on the oil lakes.<ref name="HMM" />

Vegetation in most of the contaminated areas adjoining the oil lakes began recovering by 1995, but the dry climate has also partially solidified some of the lakes. Over time the oil has continued to sink into the sand, with potential consequences for Kuwait's small groundwater resources.<ref name="TED"/><ref name="HMM">{{cite news |author=Heather MacLeod McClain |title=Environmental impact: Oil fires and spills leave hazardous legacy |url=http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/gulf.war/legacy/environment/index.html |work=[[CNN]] |year=2001 |access-date=February 3, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061222103323/http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/gulf.war/legacy/environment/index.html |archive-date=December 22, 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The land based Kuwaiti oil spill surpassed the [[Lakeview Gusher]], which spilled nine million barrels in 1910, as the largest oil spill in recorded history.

Six to eight million barrels of oil were directly spilled into the Persian Gulf, which became known as the [[Gulf War oil spill]].<ref name="1991 EPA Report"/>