abstract:A tarball is a blob of petroleum which has been weathered after floating in the ocean. Tarballs are an aquatic pollutant in most environments, although they can occur naturally and as such are not always associated with oil spills.
"We think that for the South Florida parks, Dry Tortugas,Big Cypress, Everglades and Biscayne, it is predominately going to be a tar ball event because the oil is weathering."