A bathtub ring of oil has been discovered on the sea floor, as an effect from BP's historic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It is a 1,235 square-mile bathtub ring of oil on that deep ocean's floor.

The Deepwater Horizon rig spilled a total of 172 million gallons of oil into the ocean last April 2010.

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The study, recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, showed that approximately 10 million gallons of oil settled and coagulated on the floor of the Gulf near the rig.

The oil has then left a footprint on the ocean floor which is reported to be two times as big as the city of Houston, Texas, and approximately the size of the state of Rhode Island, the study said.

While these are yet another claim against the BP Petroleum Company, study author David Valentine told the Associated Press that tests to determine the oil's chemical signature was not performed.

This was because the oil has already degraded in the four and a half years since the spill occurred, but also said it's obvious where the oil is from.

BP, on the other hand, disputes the claim and tells researchers that they first need to chemically identify the source of the oil before blaming their company.

Still, the research serves to answer the lingering questions that have also erupted from the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Chief among them is where all the oil went - with approximately 2 million barrels missing - and the effect of the oil on the seas.

As previous research suggests, the problem with oil is that it takes a long time to actually see the effects on animals and even corals' reproductive systems.

An article written by the Ocean Conservancy's Gulf Restoration director Kara Lankford also stresses that BP did damage the gulf.

She hopes that BP can sit down with them to discuss the scientific evidence of impacts from the BP oil disaster, bringing to light some important research they may not be aware of. 

TagsOil, BP, Deepwater Horizon rig