TL;DR: Rubber. Industrial adhesive. Nobody knows why this is there or who is responsible yet.
> I’m quite confident that the sample that I handled was PVA butylene rubber,” [Dr. Kozak] said in a phone interview, describing a mix of synthetic rubber and polyvinyl acetate, known as PVA. That polymer, he said, is “the active ingredient in white glue — the kind of white glue you have at home is a very dilute, kid-friendly version of this stuff.”
> Globs of the white sticky substance, which have a spongy interior and range in size from a coin to a dinner plate, have been found for miles along Placentia Bay since at least September
> Dr. Kozak said that one of the first things he noticed was that the blob had “a kind of petrochemical odor to it, kind of like if you walk down the turpentine aisle of your hardware store.”
the article doesn't say it, but this all suggests someone probably had a bunch of old crap in a tank and dumped in the ocean. Maybe it was a giant ocean liner amount of it. Right? Why does no one want to just say that outright?
Mostly because the article is about a chemist focussed on identifying WTF it is and less so an expert in shipping/unreported damage/clandestine dumping.
http://archive.today/O92yg
> a spongy interior and range in size from a coin to a dinner plate, have been found for miles along Placentia Bay
For a moment I misread that as washing up on Placenta Bay, which would have added a whole extra level of odd.
Come to think of it, that blend of unsettling reproductive metaphors and coastal desolation would fit in the game Death Stranding.
You don’t want to live on the shores of anywhere named placenta bay.
There’s guaranteed to be a historical reason for a name that out there, and not in a way that’s good for property value or sunset watching.
Usually it comes from a reasonably common last name Placencia, which comes from a town on the border region between Spain and France.
TL;DR: Rubber. Industrial adhesive. Nobody knows why this is there or who is responsible yet.
> I’m quite confident that the sample that I handled was PVA butylene rubber,” [Dr. Kozak] said in a phone interview, describing a mix of synthetic rubber and polyvinyl acetate, known as PVA. That polymer, he said, is “the active ingredient in white glue — the kind of white glue you have at home is a very dilute, kid-friendly version of this stuff.”
> Globs of the white sticky substance, which have a spongy interior and range in size from a coin to a dinner plate, have been found for miles along Placentia Bay since at least September
> Dr. Kozak said that one of the first things he noticed was that the blob had “a kind of petrochemical odor to it, kind of like if you walk down the turpentine aisle of your hardware store.”
This reminds me of a very old video game "Science Sleuths"[1] I ran into as a kid, where you had to identify a blob on the beach.
[1] http://www.midnightbeach.com/hs/Sleuths.html
Interestingly something similar (but chemically different) happened in Australia recently too: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/bondi-beach-tar-balls-...
So, butylene rubber, a petroleum-based industrial adhesive. Meanwhile, Ottawa thinks it's plant based.
the article doesn't say it, but this all suggests someone probably had a bunch of old crap in a tank and dumped in the ocean. Maybe it was a giant ocean liner amount of it. Right? Why does no one want to just say that outright?
Mostly because the article is about a chemist focussed on identifying WTF it is and less so an expert in shipping/unreported damage/clandestine dumping.
Alternately, shipping containers are regularly lost from container ships.
The article doesn't say if this was closer to raw material or waste.
Good point, didn't think about that stuff falls off ships pretty commonly.
On the other side of the world, mystery “balls” washing up in Australia appear to have a very different origin:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-07/what-were-black-balls...